Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation
by NagandEmerald
Summary: A boy in his awkward teen years of High School, a magic stone that looks like one of his favorite fictional sci-fi species, and a family to die for: what could go wrong? Based upon the story "Praetorian," and taking place in a multiverse, this story shows what happens when one day, your life changes forever.
1. Change

**Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation**

 **Chapter 1: Change**

* * *

"Arthur, Arthur, come on. Time to wake up." I woke up to the sound of my mom waking me up at 5:30 A.M. to go to school. I was exhausted; I had stayed up most of the night playing Assassin's Creed 3, Aliens: Colonial Marines, and Minecraft. It was another day like these where I wished that I could be something completely different from that of a human being. I began my daily routine of checking DeviantART for any new messages. With no new messages, I struggled to move my dog off of the bed. When she finally jumped down, I grabbed my clothes and went for a quick shower. After my shower, I had gone downstairs rather quietly and startled my mom. She gave me a death glare for that and I took my breakfast to my recliner and started eating. I flipped through channels like an Olympian diving into a pool to see what was on. I finally stopped on F.X. to see anything that would catch my interest. When it came to a commercial, I was just about ready to get up. When I looked back, I saw the logos of the Aliens films.

"Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, and Alien Resurrection. All of these tonight at 9, only on F.X." I was practically giddy with excitement when I had heard those names. I had been an Aliens fan since I had watched the very first one when I was 9. I had many items relating to Aliens, all from video games to figurines, to even the movies themselves. I had even customized my laptop's skin to look like a Xenomorph's.

"Come on, we're going to be late!" mom yelled at me through the door. I snapped out of my daydreams, grabbed my lunch, backpack, said my goodbyes to my dog, and ran out of the door to the car. We lived out in the fields of Colorado, close by Fort Collins, so it wasn't too long of a drive to Poudre High School. We didn't have any neighbors nearby and a very large house, so it was perfect that me, my three brothers, my dog and snake, and my stepfather, Cody, all had separate bedrooms (except for my parents). As we pulled into the school zone, I got my stuff ready. I carried exactly 75 pounds on my back a day (surprised that it hasn't broken or gotten a hunch or anything like that) excluding the weight of my laptop and laptop bag plus a laptop charger.

"Bye! Love you; see you at home!" mom said as I got out of the car and she drove off. Our car was nothing special, a white plastic covered Saturn with a sunroof and seat warmers. Mom had bought it used and it was acting extremely stubborn for a car. After 7 hours and 30 minutes of school, Minecraft, and Dungeons and Dragons with a couple of friends, I left for the public transportation. I had to take the route 9 and route 18 to get back home. When riding the route 9 a friend of mine, Yealan decided to talk to me.

"Hey, Arthur."

"What's up Yealan?" I replied as we bro-fisted "How's your day been?"

"It was alright. Anything on TV tonight?" I laughed at this. I was something like the TV guide for my friends and peeps. I was not only a fan of Aliens, but a connoisseur in electronic devices. If people came to me with a problem on any of their tech. I could most likely solve it. I have been told that I am a faster at typing than my real dad, and he works as an electrical engineer with computers, and that I am better with electronics than most of the people who've had years of training.

"Nothing on tonight unless you're an aliens fan." Yealan was a fan of Xenomorphs as well, but he didn't have all of the memorabilia that I had.

"Which channel?" It took me a while to register and process that in my brain.

"If you have DIRECTV, which you do, then it is on F.X."

"Thanks, which one is playing?"

"All of the Aliens films are playing!" I responded excitedly.

"Sweet."

At the sound of my bus arriving at the station, I gathered my stuff and got ready.

"Well, I'll see you later," I said to Yealan

"Same here." Right before I got onto the bus though, I saw the glint of something obsidian in the sunlight. I told the driver to wait for me as I went to investigate. As I came to the sewer grate that I saw the cause of the glittering; I was astonished at how strange in shape it was.

"What the hell?" was all I could say as I picked up the rock. It was in the shape of a Warrior Xenomorph head, but there were no other details except for the ridges on the rock

"Hurry up if you want on!" the driver yelled. I snapped out of my delusion and put the rock in my pocket and jumped onto the bus. As it started to drive away from the station, I took out the rock again and looked at it.

While I was walking to my house, I had been looking at the rock. It was a somewhat bluish obsidian color and felt just like the obsidian.

"Maybe someone made this," I thought as I turned the rock to look at the underside. It was a perfect replica of the top of a warrior's head. It had the ridges and everything, all except the mouth and under it, it was completely smooth. As I entered the house, my dog jumped on me greeting me and nocking the rock out of my hands. Annoyed, I threw my dog off of my chest, grabbed the rock, and stood up

"What the hell Boco?" At this tone, Boco drooped her ears and tail. I put the rock back into my pocket, leaned down to her height, and started petting her.

"You can't do that Boco. It's going to end up killing me." After sending the dog to her food, I started looking for mom to show her the rock that I had found.

"Mom? Mom! Where are you?"

"In the kitchen," she replied "How was your day Arthur?"

"Great. Hey, I found this rock," I exclaimed excitedly as I pulled produced the rock from my pocket. "It's in the shape of a Xenomorph's head!"

"What about your grades?" I sighed; I had hoped that I would be able to distract her with the rock.

"All A's except for World History, a B-," I replied, a bit annoyed at the fact that mom had just put that up right on the spot.

"Good." And right as I was about to leave, "Oh, and Arthur, family game night at 9, okay?" At hearing this, my heart boiled.

"What?! But, tonight's a special night!" I pleaded, hoping that mom would see things my way.

"Please, every night is special for you, what makes this one any different?" she asked, hoping that I had a good reason.

"Because every single original "Aliens" film is being showed tonight on FX at 9" I spoke with coldness in my voice, clutching the rock tightly against my hand.

"I'm sorry, but the kids want to try playing Monopoly tonight, and plus, why would they show every single one anyways?"

I hadn't actually paid attention enough to know why FX was playing every single one. Was it Ridley Scott's birthday, no. His birthday is on November 30, not March 16. Could it have just been something that FX wanted to stay on the air?

"Look, I don't know why they would, but just let me watch them okay?" At that precise moment, I squeezed on the rock in protest, splintering a shard into myself. I winced, but I kept the pain to myself. I was already pissed with mom about not letting me watch four of my favorite movies, so I just went to my room before she could say anything else and I collapsed on my bed.

I spent the rest of the day until 9 by playing video games and studying the rock. Although I felt the splinter, I couldn't find the source of it on the rock. Most of the surface was completely smooth if not ridged on the top. I searched a little more until mom came up.

"Arthur? You up here?" she asked. When she entered, I was playing Aliens: Colonial Marines.

"What?" I replied rather bluntly.

"Look, I'm sorry, but the kids are down there and if they watch those kinds of movies; who knows?"

"I know; I know mom. My bros can't watch it because they're too young etcetera, etcetera." At this, mom and I just laughed.

"Alright, you don't have to come to family game night tonight Arthur," mom said after our laughing fit. After she left, I jumped onto my bed, shutting off my game and taking out the stone again. I stared at it for several good, long minutes before putting it on my bedside table. After looking for something to do, I decided to go onto DeviantART to find conversation, pictures, and Fan Fiction to read. During one of my Transformation Fan Fiction sprees, I decided to see if friends were online; and what do you know, Tristan was online. I decided to start a conversation, but before I could, I got a message from him on my page.

"What's down Naga? Lol"

Seeing the message, I quickly typed a reply. "What's up Tristan? Thinking of nicknames instead of new story chapters? Rofl"

After several minutes of waiting Tristan replied "Yes . How's your story coming along?"

Shoot! I had forgotten to write a lot of my story and had been delayed by my brothers and battering ram dog. I had been writing a Xenomorph based Fan Fiction under request from Tristan. I was still on chapter 1 of the story as I hadn't much time to write. It was amazing that I was able to make a Deviation a day for 1 month and not fail. Now I was being delayed by my own brothers using my dog as a battering ram for the door to my bedroom. I had to reply though and tell the truth.

"I'm almost done and hopefully it will be posted tonight. I'm not making any promises ^^;" After several minutes of waiting, he didn't reply and I went back onto my spree. 30 minutes into my spree, I started to feel an itching sensation coming from the splinter in my hand. The rock was also emitting a strange, otherworldly light. After several minutes of ignoring the itching in my splintered hand, I had to see why it was itching so badly. I knew it was because of the splinter, but what I saw wasn't like the red, itchy, swollen spot on my hand that I hoping to see; instead, it was a black spot that seemed to be spreading rapidly. I started to panic and knew that mom would flip if she saw this spot. What I felt next though, trumped any thought of mom flipping over a tiny black spot on my hand. I heard an audible crack from my back and whimpered in pain. I felt another few cracks and I was on the ground, gasping in pain. I didn't do well with pain and suffering, emotional or physical, but this was unlike anything I had ever experienced before. I screamed as I felt a burning sensation from the spot on my hand spread rapidly across my body. It felt like I was being bathed in hydrochloric acid whilst being covered in gasoline and being lit on fire. I felt another bone crack as my tail bone started pushing its way out of my skin. I heard the rip of my pants as a large, bony, black tail had pushed its way out. I felt a pain in the new appendage as it sharpened into a blade. My fingernails started to push out and sharpen. Apparently my parents had heard the screaming from upstairs as I heard the door open. I didn't care though; I just wanted the pain to stop. When it reached my legs, my shins felt like they were being pushed inwards. After more of the pushing, I heard a very loud snap as my shins shattered and melted together into digit-grade legs. My fingers then started fusing, my pointer and my middle and my ring and pinky. I felt a pushing at the bottom near where my pinky fingers used to be and I felt another finger push itself out, identical to my new talon-like claws. After a small bit of relief, the pain shot back, this time, into my back and head. My head exploded in pain and I screamed, except it wasn't my voice anymore; it was the screeching and hissing of an alien life form from a fictional film. I felt my chest expand and my organs felt like putty as they were mashed and reformed for new needs. I felt my eyes and eye sockets shoot into the back of my head whilst my nose lost any skin. My head elongated and felt as though that it were being stretched like taffy. After this pain, I felt something move from the sides of my head over to the front, covering my nose, eyes, and nonexistent ears; I panicked as all rational thought was driven from my head as I couldn't breathe. When I felt rail spikes explode from my back, I could breathe, see, and hear again; my new exoskeleton on my head become ridged except for the front of it. That's when I realized that my senses had been heightened; I could see even in the darkest spots of the room, smell things that I hadn't even smelt before, and even hear the tiniest of sounds. Speaking of which, my brothers footsteps alerted me to their arrival upstairs due to the racket I was making. As I was sprawled on the ground, I felt a bulge in the back of my throat and my teeth became pointer and sharper. The lump in the back of my throat grew until I felt the feeling of new muscle growth. Then it all stopped

I was in pain; too much pain to call normal. My now acidic blood pumped through my veins and my head throbbed painfully. My stomach was in knots and my legs also throbbed in tremendous amounts of pain.

"This is just a dream," I sobbed in my mind. I was devastated. This experience would destroy my reputation. I would be taken to the zoo, put into a cage, or worse, dissected by eager scientists. I tried to get back up from what had happened, but instead, I had fell to the ground painfully. As I was getting used to the new appendages, I felt something go to the back of my mind and stay there. I stopped moving to see if there were any other surprises in store from the rock, which had stopped glowing and had become brittle and frail. I moved my new digits around to get used to them. As I started standing again, I felt my new joints in my legs. I was used to a knee joint, ankle joint, and a hip joint; with this added joint though, my legs were incredibly shaky.

"Arthur?" A terrified voice reached my ears. I turned my now hot dog shaped head to the source and found an extremely shaky mother, a disturbed step-father, a very confused dog, and two utterly horrified brothers. I must have scared the waste from their buts with this demonstration. I knew I would have to say something.

"Mom?" I tried to say, but all that came out was a hiss, making the family jump. I knew that they thought that I was gone and all that stood where their son had once stood was now a Xenomorph. If I couldn't convince them that I was me, I would have to leave before Cody grabbed his 12 gauge shotgun and shot my acidic brain all over the wall (what wall?). I thought for a moment to see what I could do to communicate with them. After a bit of thinking, I grabbed a pen and some notebook paper and started writing, speaking the words in my mind.

"I'm still here mom," I said to myself as I wrote in my neat recognizable cursive handwriting (which is one hell of a lot harder with two thumbs and two fingers), earning a surprised shock from my family. I turned to them to see what they were surprised about.

"Why'd you do that?" I asked myself, earning a very surprised expression from everyone except my mom, whom just came up to me and just broke down on my chest. I was surprised by this and thought that she would've run to call the police or animal control.

"Oh my god, Arthur!" she cried. "I thought… I thought… I…" she broke down completely and started bawling on my ribbed chest. Cody just came over to me as well and started comforting mom, teary in the eyes, but not crying like mom. Even the kids came and started hugging my new legs, although not teary or crying, but laughing and giggling (over new ways to make my new life a living hell again). My battering ram of a dog, Boco, came over and just started nuzzling into my leg as well. I knew this would be a very interesting turn of events for me in my life, so I just returned the loving embrace, purring in content.

"Mom, calm down," I told her using my mind again. She looked up at me and wiped the tears away.

"I'm not gone, I'm still here, let's go downstairs and forget the past, get something to eat, and play Monopoly, okay?" I knew that forgetting the past wouldn't be enough to calm her, so I thought of just trying to spend some time with family and do something at home.

The rest of the night went as it should've in the first place, but with a few "minor" exceptions. After everyone had gone to sleep, I had watched the rest of the Aliens marathon. After the marathon, I decided to check and see what type of Xenomorph I had become. I went to the bathroom and looked at the mirror, bumping a few things with my new tail along the way.

"I've really got to control that!" I thought to myself. I had found out how to make sure no one heard my thoughts and how to communicate through them to other people. My keen senses needed no light whatsoever to operate in and I had taken the liberty to check every detail, every crevice of my new body. When I looked into the mirror, I looked at my head first. My head was very rib-like in appearance and my teeth were more noticeable. I had become one of my three favorite breeds of Xenomorph, the warrior, the soldier. I just then noticed my tattered clothes.

"Looks like I can't wear clothes, or I'll have to modify 'em" I thought. As I was looking myself over, my mind wandered to the thing that went to the back of my mind. Of course, with something this awesome, the normal person wouldn't care, but I was never considered "normal". Any other person would've just ignored something like that, but I knew from all of the dragon transformation and Xenomorph transformation stories I had read that with the full body package, I had also gained the instincts package as a bonus (yay, destructive instincts to go please). I was worried that if they came out, that they would attack innocent people, or worse, my family. Could I trust anything that this day brought me? After another good 2 hours after midnight playing Assassin's Creed 3 and Aliens: Colonial Marines and going on transformation story sprees on DeviantART (mostly Xenomorph), I decided to go to bed. When I tried to sleep on my back, I realized that I couldn't, as I could break my tail in sleep (that would be bad).

"What could I do?" As I stroked my chin thinking on ideas, I finally realized that I could just curl up on my bed, like a dog. Speaking of which, Boco, my dog, battering ram, and a big kisser (doggie kisses), decided to jump onto my bed without me dragging her up onto it. At this point, I jumped on too and curled my tail around both myself and my dog.

"Goodnight girl," I thought only to her. She seemed to understand and nuzzled my side affectionately. At this, I closed my mental eyes and fell asleep.

"How're my teachers going to think of this?" were my last thoughts before I started dreaming.


	2. First Day

**Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation**

 **Chapter 2: First Day**

* * *

The rest of the night was silence. My brothers were asleep, scheming new ways to make my life hell. My dog, Boco, was running in her sleep, probably chasing some small animal of some sort, or me. I was curled up on the bed with her, tail around her, keeping her safe from potential harm. My chest rose and declined as I breathed, dreaming of strange things, xenos, xenos, xenos, and more xenos and strange things. I was currently relating this event of me becoming a Xenomorph through Tristan's own TF story, Praetorian. It was a déjà vu moment as I was piecing together the events in my mind. I was in perfect bliss.  
As everything was quiet and calm, a creak was heard by my dog. My brother, Ian had woken up and decided to troll me with his usual wake up routine of smacking a frying pan near my head. You would've thought that he would've learned better, but no; he had decided to wake a sleeping Xenomorph that knows how to troll him back. Boco awoke to the sound and ran out of the room, tail in between her legs, knowing what was to come. Boco, though a dog, sure knew how to act when and where.  
"Arthur looks so cute when he's asleep," Ian said with a sarcastic tone in his voice. I heard him, but I thought it was part of my dream. "Time to wake up," he quoted from the movie AVATAR. He then took the frying pan and a drumstick and started banging them together. It broke me out of my dream and sent me scrambling up the celling. Whilst he was laughing his head off, I was panting in mortal terror. When I finally looked down and saw his smug face, I was filled with annoyance.  
"You mad bro?" he asked in a singsong tone. I had just about had it to my limit with him waking me up. I either woke up because of mom or on my own time. After he left the room, I climbed down from the ceiling and looked at Boco who'd come back in to join me.  
"Why?" I asked her with my mental communication. She seemed to shrug… wait, did she shrug? She couldn't have understood me. I was thinking out loud, but I didn't think that she could actually communicate with me. I had a dream like that once; except I was human and she could actually talk. I just shrugged it off and looked in my closet for something to wear.  
"What to wear, what to wear." As I looked through the closet, I was starting to get annoyed that there wasn't any clothes left that were too big for me. I knew that I would have to modify my clothes before school started up again, but I thought that I would at least be able to fit into the clothes I had with only minor modification. Unfortunately, I had grown more than I thought and I would have to actually get a personal modification.  
"Dag Gamut!" I thought angrily. "I'm going to have to get mom to actually make me clothes to fit." Just then, my sense of smell went crazy with the smell of… BACON! Bacon was my life; if it was cooked, I didn't care; if it was microwaved, I didn't care; if it was on the ground, I DIDN'T CARE! But this time, my sense of smell had increased beyond that of human standards. The bacon smelled as though I had gone to heaven and ate the food of the sin of Gluttony. Ironic isn't it? As I ran downstairs, the smell was making me salivate beyond my original comprehension. With a final jump down the stairs, I saw the bacon on the table, just waiting for me to take it. I looked around to make sure that Ian or Tom weren't around to troll me again and looked at the kitchen. Mom hadn't heard me come down for the sweet smell of bacon and was washing dishes. I looked back to the bacon and saw Boco begging for the sweet pork.  
"Oh no you don't!" I snarled mentally. Looking back to mom, I charged for the best breakfast food in the world. Boco yelped as she saw the determined look on my maw and scrambled under the table. I stopped right at the table and picked up a piece of bacon, looking at it with hungry non-existent eyes. As I was going to bring it up to try and eat it, the dog came back from under the table, jumped, and snatched the bacon from my clawed hands. I was surprised, angry, and intrigued at what Boco had just done.  
"GET BACK HERE DOG!" I yelled mentally, snarling physically and startling my mother. She looked to see a 15 year old Xenomorph chasing a 9-10 year old dog with bacon in her mouth. There was only one person she knew that would be that desperate for bacon and that was me.  
"Well, I see that you're content chasing Boco for your food. You know there's more bacon right?" I looked at her in disbelief. There was a plate with one slice and she knew that I would want some so she made more? She usually makes only one batch, then again, I am now a Xenomorph and I have a larger amount of room in my stomach.  
"BACON!" I yelled mentally to her.  
"Just hold on!" she retorted "Jeez, it was bad enough when you were human." At saying this, her eyes just became distant and she seemed to be looking to the future. She usually does something like that when tragedy struck. I went up to her and snapped her out of it by tapping her on the shoulder with the flat part of my bladed tail.  
"Mom, it's alright. I'm getting to live a lifelong dream since I was 7. Please, just make the bacon. I'm going to…" I looked to my recliner and looked for a way to sit in it "sit in my recliner."  
"Well, before you go, you know that I will always love you; no matter what you look like right?" I knew that she did. Like all moms, she couldn't help but blame herself for what I accidentally did and had done.  
"Mom, it isn't your fault and I know that you're going to love me, no matter what."  
"You go sit in your lazy boy and I'll get your food lazy Xeno." At this I laughed my mind off. I could obviously see that she was making a pun not only about my lazy nature, but also of my lazy boy. As I was walking to the recliner, hope in my mental eyes that I could still sit in it.  
"Now how am I going to do this?" I asked myself, keeping my thoughts to myself. As I looked at the chair, I realized that I could just sit like normal, despite digit grade legs, with my tail going down past my legs, which would be a hazard or up and have it pointing up idiotically. I decided to go with the less hazardous option; hey, you can't sit knowing that people could trip over your tail, not only hurting me, but the person who tripped. As I settled into my lazy boy, my brothers had finally decided to show themselves, ruining my chance at total peace and quiet, except the T.V. I looked Ian with my long, rigid skull and snarled.  
"Arthur! That better not be you snarling at my kids!" Mom yelled from the kitchen. I snorted; annoyed that Ian had trolled me and didn't get to pay for the consequences. I knew that I'd get back at him, but it had to be either when mom was out, or when they were all asleep. Thankfully, he just shrugged and sat in his itty bitty recliner. They had gotten recliners of their own last year for Christmas and used them for other purposes besides sitting; including T.V. trays, stuff holders, and other forms of tables and shelves.  
After a bit of waiting for my food, I was called to the kitchen to retrieve it, bring it back into my recliner, and eat it. My breakfast consisted mainly of bacon, four waffles, and a glass of milk. I picked up the bacon with my now clawed hand and smelled. I could tell that mom had cooked it to perfection, as she always did. She had a habit to cook bacon with personal ingredients, making it perfect. I had a little trouble trying to eat the bacon and just jabbed it with my new tongue and swallowed. The taste seemed sweeter than before; most likely due my new carnivorous tastes. When I took a bite of the waffle however, the taste was awful. I chocked and spat out the pieces of the bite I had taken from the waffle. Whilst I was chocking and coughing up the pieces, Ian and Tom were laughing their brains out.  
"Arthur! Say it don't spray it!" Mom had said and started coming over to scold me.  
"*gack* *cough* the waffle *choke* it tastes awful. Mom took the second waffle and took a bite.  
"Seems fine to me. Why does it… oh!" Realization had finally hit her like the rock to Gollum's head in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. "Well, you're going to have to deal with eating meat for the rest of god knows how long," she said. My mind screamed in agony. I wasn't the one to eat much meat, aside from burgers, steak, and bacon.

After finishing my bacon, I decided to go upstairs and play a bit of ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES to keep myself busy. After 2 hours of playing, I came back down to ask mom about the clothing issue. After several minutes of searching, I found her outside the porch, shoveling snow out of the driveway.  
"Hey mom," I mentally called. This startled her as I did not need to open the door to talk to her.  
"Hey Arthur, what is it sweetie?"  
"Listen, none of my clothes fit, obviously, and I was wondering if you could remake 'em to fit me. I don't care how it's done, but I want it done before school starts. I don't want to go around school as naked as the day I was born and I doubt that if anyone else was in the same situation as I was, then they would want to as well. And before you ask, it's a dignity issue." She thought over what I said and quickly went inside to start working on my clothes. I knew I was in the clear, but what I didn't know was that Ian had told Tom to troll me in a way that I thought was cliché, painful, and somewhat of a déjà vu moment for me. Whilst I was up in my room playing my video games, Tom came in undetected by my new senses and kept himself from giggling like a madman. Tom may have been three and Ian five, but they were good at keeping their composure when pulling pranks and tricks on me. What happened next felt like getting an atomic wedgie, except much worse. Tom grabbed my tail and started dragging me to the shower whilst Ian hopped onto the toilet and helped Tom pull me up and tie my tail to the curtain holder. I was in incredible pain and I was fighting to screech at the top of my lungs. For a five and three year old, they could tie a knot  
"MOM! GET UP HERE! I'M IN INTOLLERABLE PAIN!" I screamed mentally. Not a moment sooner than I could've said bacon, mom was upstairs untying my tail from the shower curtain holder.  
"IAN, TOM GET UP HERE NOW!" Mom was furious, more furious than she usually is at the boys when they put me into pain. They came upstairs laughing their heads off, looking like the smug demons they truly were. "Why?!" she asked and yelled. "Why did you do this!?" she screamed. Ian came forward to speak.  
"We thought it would be funny," he pleaded, hoping not only to escape mom's punishment, but my wrath.  
"Well, that wasn't funny to Arthur now was it? How you would like it if you had a new tail and Arthur hung you by it on the shower curtain pole?" mom asked gravely.  
"It would hurt," he replied bluntly.  
"I want you to apologize to your brother and stay in your room for a while and think about what you've done!" she ordered. Ian said his apologies and stomped off to his room.  
"Tommy?" Tom started to run before mom grabbed him. "Did you want to do this or did Ian tell you to?" Tom didn't answer and was sent to his room as well. Ian and Tom shared a room and schemed in it. I didn't care if that was their punishment; I would have my revenge if it was the last thing I did. As I went back to my room, I made sure that it was locked, Boco was inside, and looked for those secret hiding places that those two mighty midget munchkins had. After knowing it was safe, I sat in my gaming chair and accidentally knocked a small rubber dragon off of its perch. When it landed in my lap, I just realized that I had completely forgot about Emerald.  
"I was wondering where you went!" I scolded the piece of rubber. Emerald was nothing more than a bracelet to most, but to others and me, he was alive and influenced most of my decisions; trolling me in the process. He resembled a Night Furry from DreamWorks' "How to Train your Dragon" (a great film by the way), but had black and green armor all over his back. Emerald rarely, if at all, left my neck, but with the size and texture of my new neck, I wasn't sure if he'd be able to fit.  
"What am I going to do?" I thought for a moment and a light bulb came up in my head. I knew it was going to be a pain, but I knew that I could get him on. After several minutes of struggling with the rubber dragon, I finally got him on my neck. He felt cuddly and cozy in my eyes and I knew that he was going to troll me sometime, but I didn't care. Emerald and I had a somewhat short yet long history together as we've been together for one year. I bought him for forty bucks (I think it's too high of a price, but who doesn't love a rubber dragon around their neck) and we have been the best of friends and worst of enemies ever since. I looked at my other items that went around my neck. A pendant of a snake and a snake necklace. I knew that these would be a pain as well and I decided to just try and get them onto my neck. After another few minutes of struggling, I had managed to get them onto my neck and keep them there. It looked odd to see a warrior Xenomorph wearing things around his neck, but hey, that's me!

As day turned to night, I tried to find something to do to pass by the time as I awaited my modified jeans and sweater. It was a plain grey and white sweater with a fur lining inside of it to keep me warm. I didn't see what good it would do me anymore now that my body was more adaptable to my surroundings; perhaps I just saw style in them that others didn't. I tried tinkering with inventions I had made (which are usually too over complicated to do their exact purpose), playing video games, watching T.V. and going onto DeviantART. I had a bit more luck in entertaining myself on DeviantART as most of my friends were on and I had chats with them about stuff. I left out Xenomorph Transformation as I didn't want to alarm them, but hey, they would think it as role-play and other things like that. It was until Tristan decided to show that I got giddy with excitement. Tristan and I met only on DeviantART after I left a comment about god-knows-what on his page; probably something about his Xenomorph transformation fan fiction, Praetorian, of which I had grown fond of. After which, we became really good friends. After which, we developed a club dedicated to Xenomorph transformations.  
"Hey Nag :rofl: Where've you been? You've been off DA all day," came the message. We chatted through sending notes, not that we had anything to hide, it just made things easier and didn't clog up our message boxes.  
"I've been home. It's Spring Break here in Colorado :trollface:" I quickly typed back. After several minutes of waiting, I finally got the reply.  
"Aw man! You get Spring Break early. Mine's in a few weeks :(" I laughed mentally at this and quickly typed another reply.  
"Sorry bud. Listen, I've got exciting news and it is somewhat déjà vu XD"  
"What? Tell me! :eager:" I could've just told him right then and there, but I decided to be the troll I usually was and make him guess.  
":trollface: Guess."  
After a longer wait than it usually took (Tristan doesn't have a computer, but he does have an I-Pod) I finally received the reply  
"Your brothers finally tore your bedroom door off its hinges?" I fell onto the floor laughing until my sides hurt. Although they almost did in the past, I doubt that mom would take it too well.  
":rofl::rofl::lmao::lmao: No, although they will have new ways to torture me now."  
"Then what? *eager**eager*" he asked. I had to find some way to prolong the inevitable longer.  
"Let's just say I've taken a NEW PERCEPTION on life. :trollface:"  
"That ought to prolong it for longer," I mentally smirked.  
":confused:" was the reply and I decided to just spoil it and be done with it.  
":facepalm::excited:I'm a Xenomorph now :D! No joke. It was déjà vu because it went extremely similar to your story. If you don't believe me, I can send you a picture," was the long and spoiling reply. After ten minutes of waiting, he decided to send the reply.  
"Wait a minute! :amazed: You too?! What happened? Did you find a rock?" This message took me aback, but I started replying.  
"Yes, a rock that looked like…" I stopped right there, how'd he know about the rock? "Wait a minute :confused:" was the reply to his message.  
"Yes? …" he asked. I had a feeling that he was confused too, but as I thought about it for a little, I just realized that it was a joke; A JOKE! He didn't believe me, like I knew he wouldn't.  
"TIME TO END THIS!" I thought bitterly as I at the thought of a friend not believing me.  
"Okay, okay :rofl:, nice try Tristan," came the reply to his message as I typed "but I know that you're just roleplaying with me :lol:" I actually started to smile at how he'd fooled me, but I had my doubts and the reply to the message I sent confirmed these doubts.  
"No, no, no! I'm serious! My story is true. You want me to believe you? Then believe me." I was in awe, flabbergasted actually, that he was telling the truth. The entire story of Praetorian, true? I needed answers and I would get them any way possible.  
"Okay; I want explanations active immediately :sherlock:!" I was confused, furious, curious, and happy all at once. These emotions started to give me a headache.  
"For what? Your TF or mine?" came the reply. I thought I might want to here the explanation from someone who's been like me for longer, so I quickly typed the reply to his question.  
"YOURS!"  
"I have no idea! All I know is that the stone I found caused it. I don't know what the stones are made of or where they come from. Your guess is as good as mine." I was shocked, again. This time, however, it was the fact that he didn't know much about this at all. I decided to just get as many answers as I could out of him as I could and just deal with them.  
"Well, I found a stone in the shape of a warrior's head," I informed, seeing if he could make a theory on what happened.  
"Hmmmm. The shape of the stone must be affiliated with the transformation it causes."  
I thought over it for a moment and decided that it was the most likely theory that we could come up with.  
"Interesting theory, or more or less fact :laughing:. I turned into a warrior Xeno and the rock was in the shape of a warrior. Yours was in the shape of a praetorian. Anything else?" I asked hopefully.  
"No. But how's your life going? Is your family accepting you for who you are?" came the response.  
"My step dad doesn't trust me in the slightest, I can only eat meat, and I just turned yesterday. Other than that, everything's just fine."  
"Give it time, your step-dad will come around. As for only being able to eat meat, you can eat other things. Xenomorphs have the natural ability to adapt to things. The more you eat other foods, the quicker your taste buds will adjust. But I warn you, it's gonna be revolting." Once again, shock came and took hold. In my desperation to know what happened and how it happened, I had forgotten that little piece of advice. I could eat Italian food again, albeit revolting for an indefinite amount of time, but still, I could eat other things other than just meat! I was happy enough to jump up and down in joy, but that might just give my brothers ideas on horrible things to do to me.  
"I already figured that out with a waffle this morning *cringes in disgust*."  
"As in, DROWN THAT WAFFLE WITH SYRUP! :evillaugh:" I always liked Tristan's sense of humor, but I couldn't resist in DROWNING AN INOCENT WAFFLE IN SYRUP; it was just too good of an offer to pass up.  
"Ah... that explains it. Any other advice?"  
"Not really, I haven't been a Praetorian very long myself. I hope things work out for you. Bye, my cat Meyers wants to go outside, and I could go for a walk myself. Talk to you later." I just sat there, waiting for something to happen. My now elongated brain throbbing with the information I had just been given. I wasn't alone, nor would I be, in this world, and I bet there were more like Tristan and myself, just hidden.  
"I'm not alone," repeated in my mind like a broken record. I had forgotten to keep those thoughts to myself and mom walked in to see me.  
"Of course you're not. I'm here for you, so are your brothers, your dog, and your friends."  
"No, I mean, I'm not the only one. You know Tristan, right? From DeviantART?" She mangled her brain over the question and nodded in response  
"Well, his TF story is quite real. He became a Praetorian the same way I did. He found a stone and it changed him, albeit it burned into his chest, I only splintered myself with a fragment by accident, but still, I'm not the only Xenomorph on Earth!"  
"Well, I came up to check on you and show you a surprise," she said excitedly. "Come on, and don't peak. I'll know."  
I grabbed her hand so she could show me the way and I followed. She took me downstairs to show me whatever this surprise was. Was it the entire ALIEN collection? My question was soon answered as we came to a stop, she let go of my clawed hand and I heard movement.  
"Okay sweetie, open your… eye." I let my vision return and there, in her hands, were my new clothes. It was a hoodie and jeans. My hoodie was a DC hoodie (not DC Universe like Batman, but the company) that was just right for my size. She had taken measurements on me today before my talk with Tristan, but I didn't think that she'd modify clothes I already had! The hoodie was now twice the size and stretched to fit. The hood fit snuggly on my elongated head and seemed to bring out my trinkets that I now had adorned to my neck, including Emerald (he is not a trinket, he's a friend, adviser, and someone I talk to when I feel down!). There were four, no, five holes in the back of it for my back spines (four spines and one really weird vertebrae that I have no idea to its use… yet). As for the jeans, they looked like normal jeans, but had a hole with a fabric that wouldn't rip or tear when the blade of my tail brushed against it. They were perfect, not only could I go back to society, but I wouldn't have to lose my dignity. However, what struck me as brilliant was my mom's handy work on the embroidered design of a Xenomorph on the front of my coat and the custom made buttons for my coat and pants. Did she go out when I was looking for something to do today and didn't tell me; I'll never know.  
"Well, go ahead," mom said. I caught on and began putting on the new clothes. They fit perfectly and made me seem somewhat more human. Now with pants and my coat, I wouldn't have to worry about pockets anymore. What also caught my eye was that there were more; MORE! She was modifying all of my clothes to fit and she was already doing an excellent job. Mom never really sewed and spent more time outside than in (as she has more outside hobbies than inside, like me). Seeing all of this sewing equipment told me that mom at least did sew and I could actually get a good look at the designs and embroidering.  
"Thanks mom, it fits perfectly." She smiled and gave me a hug.  
"I'm glad that you're still you," she was somewhat upset and I began comforting her, purring to show that I was fine and that nothing was going to happen. We stayed that way for a while, hugging each other out. Then, I felt something, a feeling on the back of my neck that would make any hair on it stand on end. I looked outside and found the cause of it, Cody's truck. Cody, my stepdad, worked as a construction worker and did a great job at it. I didn't doubt that he was in a bad mood as I somewhat could see the angry pheromones seeping off of him as he stomped from his car to the door of the house. Boco knew this as well and hid under the table whilst I went right back upstairs to avoid him. His voice was booming and I knew that he and mom were having an argument again.  
"Why is there a god da…" he stopped himself before he dropped another obscenity that he usually had pouring from his mouth. He was addicted to tobacco chew and the spittle cans and bottles, plus the odor of tobacco in the air really didn't help signify that he wasn't anything more than a construction worker. "darned mess every day I come home. And where's the freaking remote?" He spoke in an irritated tone. Something told me that I was going to have a rough night.  
"It's on the kitchen counter Cody." Apparently, mom was holding back her irritation with Cody as he was being more immature than Ian, in my visual perspective and probably in my mom's as well.  
"Well, why isn't it where it's supposed to be, on the coffee table next to my recliner?"  
"Well, I don't know! Maybe the kids wanted to watch T.V. today too!" Cody had a nasty habit of placing down his foot and making his attitude say "All that is here is mine!"  
"Come on Kimberly, why are you sounding so irritated? Was it one of the kids or Arthur?" he spat my name out as if it was garbage, and I decided to listen more as I was intrigued at where this would turn.  
"I sound this way because of the way you're acting. You're acting like a five-year old."  
"Please, don't call me that." Cody also always expected to be treated with love and respect when he didn't give us much. When he was in a bad mood though, mom and I usually left the house for a drive or to a friend's house to get our minds off of Cody.  
"Why, because it's true?"  
"It isn't true, and where are the kids?"  
"Ian and Tom are upstairs in their room as punishment," she replied bluntly.  
"What for?"  
Mom sighed before starting on the events that took place today. I heard a couple of grunts from Cody, but I thought it was in agreement for the kid's punishment. Oh how wrong I was.  
"Well, whatever that freak did, he deserved it!" This comment was followed by a long silence and I brought my head up in insult. He called me a freak based upon my looks! I knew that he didn't like what had happened last night, but that was no reason to call his own stepchild a freak.  
I looked back down and saw their pheromones outlining their bodies. Apparently, mom was bewildered and angry as she started yelling.  
"Why is he a freak Cody?! Is it the way he now looks?!" Cody shrugged in response, earning an already angry mother to make a wild gesture with her arms.  
"You saw what happened last night, you came and hugged him when it was over! Are you embarrassed to call him your stepson now?! Are you just that much of a 3-year old now?!"  
"SHUT UP!" Cody yelled. "JUST SHUT…" but he never finished as mom slapped him and began to retort.  
"Cody, I think you should leave. I no longer find my kids safe around you right now…"  
"Babe, I'm sorry, I don't know what…" she held up her hand and I could see, judging by her pheromones, that she was very upset.  
"Don't say I'm sorry," she said grudgingly don't say that you didn't know what came over you, because you do know. You should leave now! Get out of my house and don't come back until you're sorted out!" Cody was about to retort, but before he had a chance to speak, mom told him to make his own dinner and came upstairs to see me. I made it so that I looked like I was on my laptop, dog at my side on the bed.  
"Arthur, can I speak with you for a second?" her voice was cracking and I knew why.  
"What about?" I asked in a confused voice. I knew that my impressions wouldn't let me down, even in my mind.  
"Listen, Cody's going… away for a while," she chocked on the last bit, but swallowed the guilt back down. "How do you feel about that?" I, overall, was somewhat relieved, glad, and sad. Sure, he may be prejudiced against me at the moment, but he was my stepdad, and nothing was going to change that; so I decided to speak with a monotonous tone, as I always had done (even as a human being) when my emotions conflicted with each other, in my mental voice  
"I'm not that concerned. I could see and hear you guys arguing downstairs." At this, she chocked up again and began tearing up.  
"Oh, Arthur; I'm so sorry you had to hear that."  
"And I'm sorry I had to listen. Cody's nothing but trouble at the moment. He's got to stop living in the past and start thinking of how glorious this new body will be in the future. I mean, look at me, I no longer have flat feet (it means I run at a slow pace and if I run too much, I start stretching skin and muscle)." At the fact that I could run again, I gave mom a hug, told her goodnight, and left her to her business.

As the night wore on, I thought more and more about what Cody had said. What he said, was the most horrific obscenity that I had ever heard leave that tobacco chewing mouth of his. I was angry with him for denying something that I had dreamed of since fourth grade. He may be a good man with a good heart, but I understood that he didn't understand. He must be thinking that he is living with something that "will" tear him apart, not something that "can" tear him apart, limb by limb. Then there was still the issue of my real dad, Tim Jackson. When I was five, maybe six years old, my mom and dad divorced, each meeting with a different person to call a husband, or in dad's case, a wife. Although I spent seven-eight very long, strenuous years there, I couldn't help but feel very stressed, all of the time, due to my stepmother, Juana, harassing my mental state and making me feel guilty all of the time. She also told lies about my mom and that was the final straw. Dad was apparently oblivious to my emotional torture and I couldn't take it anymore. The next day, I left, never to come back, unless it was to see them for a day. I couldn't take an entire week of being at their house and I never would again. Although we still continue to meet, I doubt that I will ever live there again.  
"What's dad going to think?" I asked myself. "He has the personality of a brick wall, but seeing something that's supposed to be fictional that was once your human son, now your fictional creature son, I suppose his mental walls will break down and he'll take my mom back to court." I had to get a new I.D. for school too, and he still had access to my school, grades, and everything that involved my wellbeing. I shuddered at the thought though, of me being in a court room with my dad, who was more successful than my mom. Sure, we had a big house now, but it wasn't anything real fancy, just a standard two story house with three bedrooms, and two bathrooms. It was a nice place, but I knew that if dad did win the court case, then I wouldn't be able to see my mom again.  
"Well, I'll find out tomorrow," I thought to myself as I shut down my Xbox, took off my clothes, and brought my laptop to my bed, of which I curled up into and started browsing DeviantART again. It would be a while before I could go outside again, but I knew that wouldn't be a problem; I never went outside much anyways. As I put my laptop on its stand, I started to drift off to the world of dreams. I wondered what tomorrow would bring and how I would deal with it. If I had friends coming over tomorrow, than I wouldn't be able to actually hang out with them, unless they, of course, could keep a secret. Without Cody at the house telling everyone to quiet down and stop horsing around, we could be free to do the things that we wanted. But first, how to break it to them.  
"Night Boco." At this, she seemed to perk up and then go right back to sleep. As she went to sleep, I fell asleep as well, thinking of friends and family.


	3. Friendly Reactions

**Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation**

 **Chapter 3: Friendly Reactions**

* * *

It had been exactly 5 days since my transformation into a Xenomorph and things were somewhat returning to normal. My Spring Break routine had been about the same for the past 5 days. I woke up with my dog right next to me or already downstairs, I came down and ate my breakfast, of which mostly included meats. I had been taking Tristan's advice and eating sugary sweet foods to regain old tastes. I had already regained my tastes for waffles and dairy products (yay for me because my main foods have been cheeses and other dairy products) and my tastes for sodas and milk. I had mostly been eating bacon and other meats though, and each time I tasted them, they seemed tastier than they should've been. Well, that was to be expected because of my carnivorous appetite. I then spent the rest of my morning playing video games and trolling my two obnoxious brothers before eating lunch, of which then I'd spend the rest of the day watching TV, chatting on DA, and playing VG's all at once (of which is extremely difficult if you cannot multitask correctly). I would do this until dinner, of which my family and I would sit at the table and eat, my step-dad not making any eye-contact whatsoever with me. He wouldn't talk to me, he'd ignore me, and he treated me as though that I was an animal. I was insulted by this, but I did my best to ignore it and I was able to do so for quite a while. As these five days had gone by, all of my clothes had been modified to suit my new body and needs. My favorite clothes mainly composed of jeans, sweaters, and white shirts under these sweaters. Emerald, my little good luck charm that I kept on my neck, tail, or spines at all times, was a pain to get on and no one needed to get me started on the difficulty of not tripping over my tail or losing my balance due to still not being used to having a new appendage on my backside. Speaking of new features that were included with the body, although it didn't look or feel like I had eyes, I could see normally, but with a few added touches to my vision. First off, I could see perfectly in pitch black darkness if I wanted, I could see the pheromones and hormones of anything that was moving or living. I had found that out on Saturday when my step-dad and mom were arguing about…"various" things. Although everything was hunky dory at home, there was still the main concern of revealing myself to the entire populace of Ft. Collins, not to mention my real dad and step-mom along with my friends and teachers. Not to mention all of the press would be hounding my ass for a good long time.

Today didn't start any different though. I woke up to the sight of my dog lying down right next to me. She wasn't asleep and was waiting for me to wake up. After yawning, this sounded like a hiss to me and everything around me, and stretching all of my limbs, I slowly clambered out of my bed to get my clothes and Emerald on. As I got out, I just noticed that I still had the rock that did this to me. This caught my attention immediately and I went over to see if it wasn't broken or anything.

"How the hell did I not notice this?" I asked myself as I came to the rock. It had stayed near my bedside since the night that I had become one of my greatest dreams and it looked brittle and cracked.

"Damn. I should be careful." I inquired to myself as I picked up the rock gently and placed it next to Emerald's night stand. Emerald was a little good luck charm that I had come across at the Scottish-Irish Highland Festival and bought for $40.00. He may have been expensive and people thought me weird for wearing such a thing around my neck, but that was just me. I had made sure that I made Emerald happy and cared for, even when I forgot him. I sometimes felt as though that he was alive and that he could easily speak to me and talk to me when I needed to, but he was just rubber and wiring inside and out. Sometimes I wished he was alive and right now was one of those times. I sighed, which also sounded like a hiss to me and others around me and I went to my closet to see what clothes I would wear for the day. I decided to go with my usual white shirt, but chose to wear a red sweater to go with my blue jeans. I looked at the mirror I kept in my room at my image and saw that this specific sweater made me look much more human than I thought. I knew it was only a matter of time before I would have to show myself to the general public again and I hoped that I could act human enough to do so. I once again looked to the rock and Emerald, which were now side by side. I decided since that I wasn't going to go into public just yet; I wouldn't wear him around my neck, tail, or back spines today.

"See you later buddy," I thought to the inanimate object as I started heading downstairs to eat breakfast with my dog. Little did I know was that after I left the room, the rock glowed once again; energy coursed into my inanimate rubber dragon and the rock shattered.

Once again, I had decided to spook my mom and climbed on the ceiling downstairs. She was still cooking breakfast which consisted of pancakes and lots and lots of bacon. She knows me so well. As I silently climbed towards her, my five year old brother decided to spook me as well before I even had a chance. Silently, we both crept up to our respective targets, me to my mom and Ian to me. As I was about to scare her silly, Ian startled me with a tap on my shoulder, causing me to fall down and not only startle me, but mom as well. We both shot Ian a death glare and if looks could kill, Ian would already be in Hell or the up place. Whilst we death glared him, he was laughing his butt off at the fact that he was able to startle me, yet again. I growled low and turned back to mom.

"I'm guessing you want your breakfast?" I nodded so fast that I thought that my head wouldn't be able to hang on.

"Yes please." I was handed a plate of food compromising of cinnamon-sugar coated pancakes, milk, and the usual chocolate chip waffles with bacon. When handed the food, I thanked my mom kindly and walked over to the recliner that belonged to me. I had learned how to sit again thanks to help from my mom and I sat down with my tail in between my legs and my back spines pressed against the chair. It wasn't uncomfortable as my back spines could easily move to the sides to suit my needs. As I ate my food and watched TV, I noticed that the lack of my brothers was somewhat disturbing. I looked around for the little troglodytes and was curious as to where they were and what they were doing. I looked around a little longer as I finished my breakfast.

"Hey mom," I asked, "Where're my bros?" In response to my question, she shrugged and looked around. I decided to once again take matters into my own hands and I ran up the stairs to my bedroom to see it was empty. I looked around for their pheromones and found them in their room, plotting something. Because of my new form, I had better hearing and could easily hear what they were saying. Although it sounded like gibberish to me, I clearly knew that they were going to make my day a living hell. But from the sounds of it, they were going to have to reschedule because I had a date with DeviantART. I took my laptop out and begin typing away; looking for something, anything that could help me in my current situation. As I typed and looked for friends on DA, I found that Tristan was online. He had more experience with this, perhaps he could help me out. I quickly typed a message to him,

"Hey Tristan, you on?" I waited a few minutes before refreshing the page and seeing the note that Tristan left, showing that he was indeed on and not off.

":yawn: Yes… and off at the same time! }-" was the reply

":lol: How's life been treating you?"

":shrug: Pretty good. Been getting a bit more sunlight than I can handle :omg:"

"Life's been just fine for me. The only problem I face is figuring out how to show myself to my friends, family, and teachers." I waited a couple minutes for the reply as Tristan is limited by his i-Pod.

"Just act normal, and pretty soon, they'll accept you as normal," was the reply. I had no problem with that, but it was my step-dad I was worried about. I quickly, despite having four fingers now, typed a message,

"Well, tell that to my step-dad."

"Well, there are sometimes exceptions. ^^;"

"Yeah, I guess, but he just won't stop," I counted on my fingers as I typed,"Calls me freak, doesn't appreciate me anymore, the list goes on and on."

":shrug: Kinda hard for me to come up with a solution. With me, it's Sticks n' Stones." I somewhat laughed at that. I used that phrase a lot considering the emotional turmoil I went through.

"Dido. I use that phrase a lot."

"Along with Dido. :9"

":rofl: True that. Well, do you have a suggestion on who I should show first?" It was the big question. I crossed my thumbs and fingers and hoped that he had an answer. I waited for a little while and finally got a reply,

"Your closest friends. They are more likely to understand than anyone. After you've got a group of understanding friends, than break it to the students and teachers." I thought on the suggestion for a little bit and thought it was worth a shot.

":nod: Sounds good," I was about to send, but I remembered an important factor, so I typed more, "I just hope that people are willing to understand. People here in Ft. Collins are easily spooked." I let a sigh of relief escape me at the reply.

"As are the everyday Washingtonians. Just act like a normal person and they'll eventually calm down."

"Okay, sounds good. How's your story coming along?"

"I'm still trying to finish my Chapter with :iconwingvinniecustom:. Most of my actual stories, (the ones that I experienced in real life) are over. Now I'm writing crossover type stories. Plus I finally got some work done on my Biollante story.

":squee: I can't wait to see it!"

"I'm just scratching my head on how I'll tie in the future chapters of it to Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah. That film alters the timeline and has the potential to kill my story like a fish in a bucket. :confused:" I thought long and hard about that and then, an idea popped out of nowhere. I thought a bit about it and thought it would really put the name "NagandEmerald" to use.

"That's true. Also, I had an idea on how to talk on DA." I waited a few minutes before the reply came.

"How? :?"

"You do realize that my username is "NagandEmerald", right?"

":lightbulb:" I chuckled mentally as I typed away, wanting to give a proper entrance to a new voice for NagandEmerald.

"Exactly, so now…

*Nag* I'll be talking like this. Presenting my fellow deviant and worst friend ever, Emerald!

*Emerald* :O Who, what, when, where? :bow:" I waited for a little before reading Tristan's reply.

":jawdrop:" was the reply and it put me into hysterics.

"*Emerald* :rofl:

*Nag* Well? What do you think of it?"

"Intriguing, reminds me of Gollum and Sméagol talking to eachother."

"*Nag* :rofl:

*Emerald* You could say that. :iconevilgrin2plz:"

"Yeah. Listen, I gotta go. My Magic cards need sorting. Talk to you later. Bye! :wave:" I laughed at the idea of having Emerald talk on DeviantART. Tristan seemed to like the idea, but I had more important matters. Who were my closest friends and who'd be willing to put a bullet in my acidic brain? I thought over this for a while and decided to see if Zach was available for a sleep over or if he wanted to hang out. It would be the perfect opportunity. We both had more in common than a cloned sheep. As I pondered over whom would be willing to understand, I never noticed the slight glow coming from Emerald as the rock's powers began to take effect. I wouldn't notice for a good long while. After another pondering session, I hurried downstairs in my usual attire; a white shirt under a sweater with blue jeans and a belt. I hurried past my brothers and my dog of which was trying to batter down the front door as if she was battering down my bedroom door. I hurried to the back yard where my mom was watering her plants.

"Mom! I have an idea!" I yelled mentally to her. She was startled, but when she saw me, she smiled warmly.

"Finally," she replied, of which I went onto the ground laughing. After my little laughing fit, I got back up and dusted myself off (I'm a clean freak when it comes to my clothes, don't judge me!).

"Okay, so what's your idea?" I explained the idea of introducing me to my closest friends and Zach being the first. She nodded every so often and asked me to repeat something when it seemed pretty far-fetched. When I was finally done, she looked at me with a worried look on her face.

"Are you sure? Something could go wrong Arthur."

"Mom, I'm fine," I could see her pheromones seething off of her in waves of worry, "I doubt that Zach would attack me. If he saw me like this, I bet that he would be uber excited." (Yes, I use the word uber too, don't judge me!) Mom pondered over the idea for a moment and nodded.

"Okay, but if something goes wrong, just run." I mentally face palmed and she could apparently see that I was frustrated, "I'm just worried for you, okay?" I nodded and she smiled and kissed the top of my head (not in the weird way, you know, like the way that all mothers do that.) and went off to set up the sleep over with Zach. Although I had been to Zach's house before, I thought it safer if he came here and my mom thought this as well. I mean, come on, who would believe that I was her son if we weren't here?! She came back minutes later and said that Zach would be here later tonight. I was excited yet worried at the same time. There was the possibility that he would run out and possibly tell the police, but I doubt that he would. He was my friend, and friends stuck by each other, right?

As we waited for Zach to arrive, we were all tense. My brothers knew of the situation and knew of what could happen. I was twiddling both pairs of thumbs in anxiety and not even video games or DeviantART could keep me calm and collected. My dog was waiting next to me, my tail wrapped around her in anxiety and worry. My mom was waiting outside, pacing back and forth whilst speaking about something that I couldn't make out. As I waited, my super sensitive hearing picked up what sounded like a very familiar car. I looked out to where I remembered the road was and saw the pheromones of two people, one very excited and the other very tired. Zach lives with his grandmother and she was very much like a grandmother to me considering how much time we spent together at either his house or my own. As pair of human shaped outlines slowed to a crawl, I saw my mom disappear out of sight and into an outline of pheromones. As I watched, I saw Zach climbing out of the car and walking to the door. I decided to give him a surprise and climbed the ceiling to avoid being spotted before he even had a chance to look for me. As he entered the house, I remained completely still on the ceiling. If I could still sweat, I'd probably have a swimming pool right now. As he searched around for me, I followed him by the ceiling, keeping as absolutely still as possible. As if he sensed me behind him, he turned around to find no one there and I knew that now was my time to act.

"BABIES IN BIKINIES!" I screamed mentally at him as I let go of the ceiling and plummeted onto the ground, making sure to keep my deadly tail away from anyone and everyone.

"HOLY CRAP!" He yelled when I landed on top of him. He immediately started squirming to get out and I started laughing my butt off at his failure to expect the unexpected as he squirmed.

"Arthur! Get off of me!" he yelled. I decided that my happy fun times was over now and immediately jumped off of him. He hadn't got a good look at me when he was jumped on and his expression when he saw me was priceless. He looked like that I was the best thing in the world to him.

"No way! NO WAY!" I nodded to confirm that he wasn't dreaming and that I was, in fact, a xenomorph warrior in the chitin and molecular acid. He was amazed, not terrified, not running, but amazed at how I was able to pull off such a feat. Then, he started laughing.

"What's so funny?" He continued to laugh for a little bit before finally calming down.

"Okay, I got the joke. Take off the costume." I was shocked, flabbergasted, and somewhat expecting that to happen. I decided to show him that I was indeed not a costume, but a xenomorph through and through.

"This is no costume dude!" I replied sternly. His expression of "you got me" turned into one of no emotion whatsoever.

"Seriously, take off the costume."

"It's not a costume! This is me! You're welcome to look for a zipper, but I doubt you'll find one." Then, he came up to me and started checking me over, looking for a zipper or Velcro vest of any kind, but finding none. After several minutes of searching, he stopped and looked at me with a "you're real?!" expression.

"It's not a costume?" he asked. Just to show more proof that it was not a costume, I extended my inner jaw and his expression, once again changed. This time, his expression was that of a very excited child in a candy store.

"Oh my god; that's so cool! How does it feel?! Does it feel weird?! I must know!" So many questions and so little time to answer. Apparently he never noticed that I wasn't speaking and that I was communicating through thought.

"Okay, in order…Yes, it is, it feels really weird, just answered that, and what do you want to know?"

"Everything!" he replied, apparently excited by the fact that his best friend was now something that "should've" been fictional. So, I started explaining what had happened, starting from the night of when "it" happened, and all the way to now. Zach seemed to understand, yet was still poking and prodding at me because of how cool it seemed. I couldn't blame him, he was like an overexcited child listening to this. After explanations were over, we decided to start the night off by playing some video games. We started off playing multiplayer in Overlord II, a game where the entire goal of your character, the Overlord, was to be evil. I, naturally having more gaming experience and a greater love for fantasy violence and evil, won many of the rounds. After playing that, we decided to play a bit of AC3 and ALIENS: Colonial Marines.

A long night of playing video games, watching horror films, and doing other various activities, Zach went off to bed. However, I stayed awake, playing away on a video game and thinking of Emerald being a living, breathing creature. I know, it sounds weird, but I am a weird person by all regards, even as an extraterrestrial life-form from a fictional film. But either way, I was playing a bit of AC Brotherhood when I noticed it; A slight glow coming from Emerald's nightstand.

"What the…" I thought, accidentally waking up Zach, who then noticed it to and got up.

"Dude, what you think it is?" he asked, curious to the glowing coming from the nightstand.

"It's probably the rock, but it's too brittle and cracked to do that." Slowly, my tail not moving, I walked over to Emerald's nightstand and was shocked to see that the rock had shattered into a fine powder and that the glow wasn't emanating from the powder, but Emerald himself. It was emerald green in color and the glow was very bright, too bright for me.

"Zach! Get over here!

"What's the rock…" we were both shocked to see Emerald glowing that color and something happening.

"It's too bright!" I mentally yelled at him, thankfully no one else heard it because it was only directed to Zach. As the glow got brighter, I covered where my eyes would've been and Boco began barking, which Zach silenced with covering her mouth shut. As the glow got brighter, I began to feel something else. Besides me, Zach, and my battering ram dog, there were pheromones surrounding Emerald and I didn't know why. Was the light messing with my vision or something else? As I pondered, the glow stopped and the room returned to its darkened state once again, yet, something felt different. As I was about to move to Emerald, I felt another presence come to my mind. It was something that startled me beyond reason as I already knew that there were instincts in the back of my mind, but this one felt…different.

"Arthur." I turned to Zach to see his expression was confused. "What just happened?"

"I…I don't know," was my reply. Then I turned to Emerald and began looking at him and as I picked him up, his eye blinked at me. I let out a spooked hiss and dropped Emerald on the ground.

"Zach…Emerald just blinked at me!"

"Okay, you need to stop! He's not alive!

"No, I'm serious! He blinked at me!" I looked at Emerald and saw that he was actually moving, moving! I gasped a hiss as the once inanimate rubber dragon moved on its own and started blinking before yawning. I was shocked and amazed by this display as Emerald moved on his own.

"Emerald?" I thought out to him. I was wondering if he even was alive at all or if the rock did something to make me hallucinate. The dragon turned towards me and looked at me with an expression of recognition.

"Arthur?" was the reply. Zach gasped, Boco growled, and, if I had a face, I would've been surprised. I was amazed by this. I thought that the rock only turned things into what they represented, but it granted one of my wishes to me!

"Wh-where am I?"

"You're in our bedroom Emerald." Emerald took a look around and nodded.

"Just as I saw through unblinking eyes." We all laughed. All of us, except the dog. Zach, Emerald, me, we were laughing at that comment. He was secretly conscious? How and why were for later, we just got a third amigo and at that moment, I knew things would become more interesting and fun in my new life.


	4. Of School and Normalness

**Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation**

 **Chapter 4: Of School and "Normalness"**

* * *

It was a nice, quiet morning as usual. Zach usually didn't wake up until the afternoon unless someone woke him up before then. I was asleep in my gaming chair, dog next to me, and what appeared to be a dragon bracelet, although this was no "normal" bracelet. The night before, the rock that had made me a xenomorph gave me a final wish, to make my good luck charm, Emerald, a conscious being that was not just a good luck charm, but also a friend. Sure, I may have been weird for wishing that in the first place, but I've always been weird. As the sun shined through my window and into my room, I began to stir and realized that I had fallen asleep to the sound of soothing and calming music and that my games were off, when they had been on; most likely a little gift from my one-of-a-kind-friend. As I remained as though I was asleep, listening to the music, I never noticed Emerald wiggling silently from me and preparing to wake me up with lots of noise and hilarity. As said draconic entity approached me, my keen senses began to pick up the sounds of something apparently trying to flap its wings silently…and failing. As I heard the flapping get closer, then I decided to get Emerald before he could get me and I immediately sprang up and startled him with a hiss to the face.

"MOTHER OF MERCY!" Emerald cried out before losing control of his own wings and falling to the floor. This caused me to go into hysterics, both mentally and physically, my physical laughter sounding like various hisses at somewhat erratic intervals. At not only hearing the vocalizations and the mental laughter, the draconic entity gave me a look that could only be described as the "no" meme.

"The look…on your face!" I replied to Emerald's scowl, laughing hard enough to where I thought I was going to die of oxygen deprivation.

"Not funny!" he replied, faking an upset tone. All the commotion had already awoken my dog and Zach, who was just looking at me and Emerald, thinking that he had to be dreaming again. As I looked over to said friend, he looked at me with the same "you're real" expression that he had when he first saw me.

"Guess it wasn't a dream," was his first sentence of the day, to which Emerald replied with what could be considered a "you don't say" meme on his snout. The dog had already gotten used to Emerald, seeing as he seemed to not be a threat, but rather a friend, if not family, to me, and she quietly lowered her head back down.

"Sleep well Zach?"

"I slept like a rock in a wall, of course I slept well," was his reply, along with an almost identical troll face afterwards. Zach had gained notoriety for being able to imitate any and almost all memes on the internet with faces, including, the Troll Face, the "No", the "You Don't Say", and the "True Story" as his most prominent ones. I rolled my mental eyes at the fact that despite having a "close encounter of the third kind" with his friend, he was still the same in personality, albeit, a lot more excited and stuff like that.

"So, what're we going to do until Kim wakes up?" Zach asked, referring to my mom's nickname, Kim. At this question, I shrugged and looked to Emerald to see if he had any ideas.

"Hmm…" he thought. Although, unlike me, he couldn't think his words at people, he could only do it with me, so I was the only one who heard him. After several minutes of thinking, the dragon put on a GIR face and said,

"I…don't…know…" That, once again, sent us into hysterics. Despite not having a conscious mind, he was very knowledgeable in today's trends and hits. Perhaps it was a side-effect of the rock, but who knows. All I knew right now was that I was hungry and wanted to eat something now!

"I'd rather go and cook me up some breakfast." Zach then looked to his stomach and nodded in agreement, whereas Emerald just flew up on my neck.

"Well then, what're we waiting for guys? I haven't eaten since…ever." At this, I nodded, then chuckled mentally and opened the door quietly and already heard noises coming from downstairs meaning that Mom was awake because the smell of bacon hit all of our nostrils, causing me and Emerald to drool the most due to our stronger senses.

"You know that your mom's not going to be happy with a pile of drool on the floor."

"It'll absorb…I think." I then raced down the stairs, Emerald hanging onto my neck as though his life depended on it. As we all reached the kitchen, my Mom already had bacon set up and Cody was sitting in his recliner, eating his. Just so that he didn't get into bigger trouble than he already was with my mom, he had to be polite around me and Zach whilst he was here. When Zach would go, Cody would pretty much ignore me, but whilst he was here, he couldn't ignore me. Although Zach already knew of the situation with Cody, he knew it wasn't best to say anything about it.

"Morning you two," my mom said, hearing that we already arrived for our breakfast.

"BACON! Please?" I asked in the "politest way I knew how". She rolled her eyes and handed me my breakfast: ten slices of bacon, 4 waffles, a glass of milk, and a cinnamon-sugar bagel. I then hurried over to my recliner to sit and eat my breakfast whilst I watched TV. Thankfully, my brothers were down here, so Cody had to switch the TV from football to cartoons. Although the cartoons of today really sucked, there were a few exceptions. I didn't watch it because I wanted to see something good, I merely watched Cartoon Network nowadays because I was bored with nothing to do or just eating my breakfast. After a little waiting, Zach game and tried to take my recliner from me.

"Hands off bub!" he had already set his food down, thankfully, so I wasn't afraid of shoving him off of me, and shoved I did. Although I was still trying to control my strength, I shoved him into one of the smaller recliners nearby and began eating.

"Psst! Arthur!" Emerald whispered to me in my mind.

"Yeah?"

"Can you pass me some bacon?" I knew that Cody was distracted with TV at the moment, so, it couldn't hurt to give the little guy some bacon. After all, he was now a living and breathing organism. So, I took a slice of bacon and handed it to the little dragon, who promptly slid off of my neck and into the recliner. At which point, he yelled very loudly,

"OM, NOM, NOM, NOM!" that startled everyone but Zach, who just started trying to cover for Emerald by making it seem like it was him.

"Hey, quiet!" Cody yelled as he, himself, raised his volume, "Can't you see we're watching TV?!"

"No. I will not be quiet because I will be quiet," Zach replied. Although he was covering for Emerald, he wasn't doing too good of a job, and mom promptly came over.

"Arthur? Was that…you?" she asked in disbelief, thinking that I had recovered my ability to speak "normally". I replied with a shake of my head and a hiss. She then turned to Zach and asked him the same thing, to which he shook his head as well.

"Well then? Who was it?" She then looked to my neck to find that Emerald was not on it, but she could've sworn that Emerald was on my neck when I came down here. Emerald then poked his head up from behind one of my spines and looked to mom, who began screaming, which caused Emerald to scream, and Cody to spring up and run over to me. When he saw Emerald though, he put his hands on his head and just started walking away as though he didn't see anything.

"You can talk?!" mom asked after the screaming fit had stopped.

"Uh…no?" Emerald replied as though he didn't know anything and quickly spoke through our mind-link. "Make me seem inconspicuous! Pronto!"

"I can't! I can't make it seem like she's insane!"

"She'll just think that she's…"

"No! I'll tell her the truth." I then turned to mom, who was still shaking as though she had seen a ghost.

"Arthur, what is that thing?"

"Hey lady, I have a name!" Emerald replied. I sighed a hiss and began explaining what had happened last night from when Zach and I were about to head to sleep, to where we stood up longer than anticipated because Emerald had just "come to life". The more I explained, the less shaken she became and the more she found it as normal as I am right now.

"This is probably the most normal thing that has happened this Spring Break by now Arthur." She then smiled and we all laughed; all except Cody, who was just watching with an expression of loathing as Emerald was "officially" welcomed to the family.

School was out, but I was still at home, I hadn't been at last day with my friends, gone outside, or anything. It had been over a couple of months since I had become a xenomorph, and to stay connected, I had gotten a laptop from Best Buy. Although it had Windows 8, which I despised more than anything, I was still surfing the web on it like at school. Although I wasn't able to finish my freshman year at school, I finished it via the school computer through special websites which acted like a real classroom (thankfully, not sites like ABC Mouse). I passed all my classes with flying colors; all A's and a 100 on my Biology final. Just those grades alone helped me regain my confidence about heading back to school. It had been a wondrously long summer, but the time had come: Sophomore year at Poudre High School.

"Arthur, Emerald, come on! We're going to be late!" Mom yelled from the kitchen.

"Yeah, yeah!" Emerald, my lovable dragon companion replied with the same volume. "Jeez, is this how it's going to be everyday going to school?" I thought about that for a moment, scratching my chin like a philosopher would, and replied,

"Mmmm, most likely, yes." Just those words made Emerald's eye twitch and he slithered up my tail and onto my neck.

"Well, I at least hope that people are willing to understand us instead of shoot us in the face." Those words made me look back on the days that I thought what if the public wasn't ready for me? What if they were willing to lock me up like some animal? These questions had remained since the day I transformed. I was, once again, wearing a white shirt with a red sweater over it, some blue jeans, and had a backpack and laptop bag around my tail to carry both my school laptop and regular laptop. Everyone knew me as the technological computer loving person, now they would know me the same, just different physically.

"Arthur! Emerald! We have 5 minutes to be out that door!"

"Coming!"

"What the xeno said!"

After we had gotten in the car, Emerald and I were told to hide. Whilst this was the first time we were going into public and I was told to be cautious, she just took extra measures by making us hide under a blanket. I growled as though I was groaning in boredom as we approached the school.

"Are we there yet?"

"We'll be there in a couple minutes." I groaned again, along with Emerald, who did the same. However, it sounded like a human groan rather than a growl of boredom. Mom had everything prepared. A beanbag as a chair, as per Tristan's advice, in the school, which I would carry from class to class and use, a pair of rubber ends for my claws and tail to keep them from shredding up everything, and a whole lot of other crap that I knew that I wouldn't need, but rather have and not need.

"Hey, we're here!" Emerald yelled mentally to me as we came slowing to a halt right outside of the main entrance to Poudre.

"Alright, Arthur, I've told the teachers of your condition and sent them pictures and instructions on what to do."

"Mom, I'm not a kid anymore. I'm sure they'll know to just continue as always, be careful if I have any cuts or anything, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera…however, I was wondering why you took so many pictures of me this summer. Wish I had gone to Missouri with you, but I'd probably have scared the folks off." As I named everything off, Emerald was counting them off on his fingers. Despite him being fun-loving and amazingly creative and fun to hang out with, he had intelligence comparable to mine. For some reason, I was starting to think that Emerald was just another me in a different body.

"Alright Arthur. Now you go and have a good first day." I nodded and waved goodbye as I stepped out. And to my surprise, the entire school cheered as we got out, causing me to jump and face them.

"What the?!" Emerald was about to ask, but instead, the students started patting me on the back and saying good luck to me on the way in. It seemed that everyone was there! Students, staff, even people from the neighborhood or retired from Poudre!

"What's going on?!" Emerald yelled to me mentally, confused as to what was going on here. I was just as confused and replied with a simple shrug.

"I don't know, but I know I love it!" I replied as we came up to where the students were guiding us through the halls. Then, I saw people I had never seen as Poudre staff before, people that were from all around Ft. Collins; all packed into one school! It was chaos and disarray; kids clearly from Middle Schools and Elementary schools, even teachers from different schools were here!

"I ask again Arthur! What in the world that you've shown me is going on here?!" Emerald asked, clearly panicking at the current situation. It was insanity! I was stumbling left and right, just trying to find someone who knew what was going on! I was then grabbed by someone I couldn't see and pulled out of the crowds and into the front office, Emerald hanging on for his life!

"Who the he…oh. Mr. Lefurge." After pulling away and almost yelling at my savior for doing so, I saw that it was my dean, Mr. Lefurge. Poudre had three deans. Although I didn't remember those deans, I certainly remembered Mr. Lefurge, and he looked just as happy as usual. Although his pheromones suggested excitement, they also suggested wariness and a bit of curiosity. "How're you sir?" I asked, trying to be as polite as possible to one of my favorite people in the school (yes, teachers are my friends. DON'T JUDGE MEH!). He just smiled and replied calmly,

"Good, good, Arthur. I see that you've had a little…accident."

"I wouldn't call it an accident. I call it an improvement!" I exclaimed cheerfully, happy to be out of the crowds. "What's with the crowds and cameras and such? It's like all of Ft. Collins is here!"

"That's because all of Ft. Collins "is" here Arthur." Although I was somewhat expecting that statement, I was still flabbergasted that such a large populous all came to Poudre to meet me, "me", of all the people on this planet, let alone this country, they all came to meet me and Emerald.

"I also heard you made a new friend this summer Arthur." I gave him a smile as non-threateningly as I could and nodded.

"Oh yeah. You remember Emerald from last year, right?"

"Yes? He was the pair of headphones around your neck, right?" Emerald had decided to pipe in, annoyed that he was called a pair of headphones.

"For your info sir, I am not a pair of headphones, I am a dragon," he exclaimed proudly. At this, Mr. Lefurge's eyes went as wide as dinner plates for a few seconds and he cleared his throat.

"Alright Arthur, here's your schedule and you have a good day." I gave a small grin and left into the crowd of cheering students and people.

Today had gone by too quickly for my tastes. People warmed up to me left and right, recognizing me and respecting me at every turn and class. Lunch was even better, as I wasn't alone like last year, rather, the table I was at was filled to the brim, everyone just wanting to see me and have a good time with me and Emerald. Speaking of which, Emerald knew how school was now and didn't like the prospect at all. However, he was willing to stay by my side the entire way. After the end of the day, I had gotten on the bus, where there were more people, not just students, but people I didn't know, trying to get a good look at me and Emerald! My new teachers were nice enough. Mrs. Lund, my geography teacher, had that same level of fun that Mr. Koehn, my Algebra 1 teacher, had when I was in his class. Perhaps I was a bit too enthusiastic to learn in world geography, as she said that I would only be allowed to be called on twice per class, meaning that I would have to let others answer the simplest of things! It was annoying, but I loved the class all the same. Once again, I had Physical Ed with Mr. Bent, who was my "Foundations for Health and Wellness" teacher last year! Although he was the same old Mr. Bent, who just loved to "pull people's legs" and "get their goats", he seemed to show a little more respect for me. As for my performance in the class, I outlasted everyone else in the pacer, Emerald holding on as tight as he could to my tail the entire way. Emerald was now Mr. Bent's favorite student, besides me, and I was just fine with that, but I hoped that he wouldn't make Emerald sit through the "Miracle of Life" film that I had to sit through in the "health" portion of the class last year. Thankfully, there was no health unit this year, but a lot more physical activity. After that, I had an off-period, which Emerald and I gladly spent our time writing stories for deviantART and making new friends. Geometry was probably the hardest class I had ever taken in my life, and now I had it again, but this time, it was "high school" geometry. Emerald promptly left the classroom and watched as I had to suffer through that class. After that, LUNCH! I finally had A-lunch; meaning that I got to eat first, then go to class. It worked out perfectly, because right after lunch, I had Mrs. Sayers' World Literature and Composition class! Mrs. Sayers, like Mrs. Musci (my English teacher from last year), liked to keep the learning environment calm and happy. It was nothing but good feelings in that class, and I excelled in it with Emerald (thanks to my literary skills and very broad vocabulary range), taking a prominent position as a joker who just wanted to have fun. After that, I went to Geospace Science. It was, like Biology, an interesting and engaging class, but instead of good old Mr. Bradley teaching, we had a new, equally amusing, teacher for Geospace. Mrs. Douglass was from Trinidad and Tobago, and what really made the class fun was her way of teaching it with her interesting Caribbean accent. Finally, after a support period and Geospace, I had another off-period, which Emerald and I spent getting to know the new students and see the new sights of the school. There weren't many, so we left early, as we were allowed to leave early if we had an off-period at the end of the day. After getting home, I was really excited to tell my mom about what happened today.

"Hey mom, we're home!" I exclaimed mentally to her, but she responded with a clearly stressed and somewhat distressed acknowledgment of our arrival.

"Mrs. Albro?" Emerald asked, looking to me with concern for my mom (I swear, he's a clone of me!). I decided to see what was up and walked into the living room and dropped my backpack and set down my laptop bag.

"Mom? What's wrong?" She looked up and sniffed.

"I think you should see for yourself," she said, somewhat teary and now clearly upset. She handed me a letter that I was hoping not to see, the address itself made my otherwise cheery demeanor turn serious and clearly angry. It was a letter, from my dad; not Cody, but my real dad!


	5. The Reveal

**Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation**

 **Chapter 5: The Reveal**

* * *

I had practically barricaded myself in my room with Emerald, confused and angry. My mom would leave dinner in front of our door because of this. It was all the result of my Dad probably finding out that I was no longer human, then again, I could never keep a secret or lie to him. His mind was sharp as a whip and his uncanny ability to detect lies was strange to say the least. I remember when I was younger when I would try to lie to him about homework to get out of doing it (horrible mistake), when I realized that it would never work, I had stopped, but that didn't stop the emotional pain I had to go through until I turned 14 and left his house for good. Sure, I saw him every once in a while, but I wasn't there following the schedule we had set up. That schedule broke after an argument and it hasn't been repaired…nor will it ever be. However, I was more concentrated on the letter from my Dad, sitting on my little coffee table. I eyed it angrily and Emerald just looked confused. Maybe he wasn't a clone of me after all.

"I don't get it. Why don't you like your Dad?" he asked me after several hours of playing Skyrim. I let out a sigh…well…hiss in stress.

"You don't get it Emerald. I can't go back to his house. I love him like any son would a father, adoptive or not, and I respect him, but I just can't and won't."

"What about Christmas, your birthday, all those?" Since he was linked to my mind, he had a strong connection on which holidays were my favorites and when my birthday was.

"I wish I could, but I just can't. It's not his fault…it's the stress that I was put through over there. Sure, there were perks and stuff that I got that I would never be able to get over here, but I can't go back into a stressful environment. I'm proving that without stress, I'll succeed. It's a strange part of my mind that tells me, if I'm stressed, I'm going to fail." Emerald's face contorted from having an idea, to forgetting it, then remembering in a short time.

"What if it's not a letter saying that you have to come back? What if your Dad's just trying to talk to you?"

"Then why was Mom crying when I got home?" I questioned. "Give me solid proof to the possibility of it being a letter just to see how I'm doing."

"Perhaps she overreacted. You said that you've never gotten a letter since your last time there…except for the letters from your sisters." Perhaps he was too connected to me. He knew that I had sisters and was never going to give it a rest. I was proud of having sisters, nothing more, and nothing less. I loved them as a brother would a sibling and I was more furious on the fact that this was a letter from my Dad, and not my sisters...but Emerald made a compelling point. I looked back to the letter and decided that I should at least read it instead of jumping to conclusions. Irrationality never got anyone anywhere. I reached for the letter and grabbed it. After which, I used my tail as a crude letter-opener and opened up the letter. After that, I took out the letter and saw that it was typed, typical of my Dad, and I began reading.

"Arthur,

I heard about what happened and I think we should talk. I set up a reservation at Olive Garden a couple days from now, so that we can talk about what happened. I hope that we can come to a conclusion to this and I can get some answers.

Love,

Dad

P.S. It'll be just us."

I looked at the letter with awe. That letter wasn't angry or court-related, no, it was a legitimate invite to tell Dad what was going on and what he could possibly do. However, I was still suspicious.

"I'm guessing you still don't trust it?"

"How could I Emerald? It's something that I'm worried about. If Dad knows, than so does Juana, and Jade, and Jasmine!" Emerald let out a stifled laugh as a result of my youngest sister's name.

"I'm sorry…your youngest sister is named Jasmine?" I hissed in annoyance at Emerald's strange sense of humor…perhaps he was a clone…but in his own very unique way.

"Yes, she is. There's nothing funny about it," I replied. To this, Emerald laughed.

"But she's named after a Disney Princess!" he laughed, clutching his side because of his laugh attack. "What do they do, cater to her like in the movie?" Due to our connection, he had access to my memories of movies that I had seen.

"No, she's just like everyone else in the world. She just has a really nice name, that's all." Emerald stopped laughing and rolled his eyes, still smiling at the fact that my youngest sister was named after a Disney movie princess. However, I was more concerned about this meeting at Olive Garden with my Dad. I had to prepare and I went to go tell my Mom.

The rest of the week went pretty well. But after that week, on Friday, I had to get ready for my dinner at Olive Garden with my Dad. My Mom had said that it was okay, that if I was happy to go, then she would take me. And she did just that. After putting on a nice shirt underneath my sweater and some new jeans, we were on our way to Olive Garden. The drive there was quiet and my Mom was just as suspicious as I was. After parking in the parking lot, Emerald was even beginning to get nervous. This would be the first time he would've ever seen my Dad.

"Now Arthur, are you sure about this?" My Mom asked for the umpteenth time. She wasn't so sure that I should be going to see my Dad like this…not yet. But I nodded in reply.

"Look Mom, in the letter, he said that he only wanted to talk. Besides, he didn't bring Juana, Jade, or Jasmine. You don't have to worry." She smiled as a result and hugged me.

"Have your Dad message me when you two are done, okay?" Emerald then revealed himself.

"What about me?" Mom smiled and nodded.

"You too, Emerald." After we got out of the car, Mom waved to us and drove off. After which, I looked at the Olive Garden and took in a deep breath. After which, I walked in to see that it wasn't that busy there tonight. No children in sight to scare by accident. As I walked up to the Waiter at the entrance, he looked up and froze on the spot.

"Don't worry; I'm here for a reservation set up by Tim Jackson." The waiter cleared his throat and looked through the reservation book.

"Jackson, party of two?"

"Make that three," Emerald revealed himself to the waiter, startling him to the point of dropping the clip-board. Before he had a chance to pick it up, I picked up the clip-board and handed it to him.

"Jesus…I thought the news was just making another story." I laughed at this.

"If they had made a story and this wasn't true, then they would've been run out of town a long time ago." He chuckled as a result and gestured to the right of the restaurant.

"This way please." He led me to a table where I saw my Dad waiting. He had a t-shirt on along with blue jeans. His beard was just as I remembered, busy, but not to where part of his face wasn't visible. His hair was thin and styled in his usual way: pointing towards the right of his head. He had his leather coat with him and his hand was still adorned with his wedding ring to Juana, and two other rings on his right hand. His face was stone-like in the way that when he talked, it almost always looked somewhat like a scowl, but wasn't. He was looking right at me seriously and I sat down in front of him.

"Hey…Dad." His eyes widened at the fact that I spoke through my mind to him, but he regained his composure quickly. He nodded in response and our waiter came.

"Good evening you two…" before he had a chance to finish, Emerald revealed himself, yet again, once again, causing Dad's eyes to widen.

"My name is Roy and I will be your server tonight. What can I get you to start with?"

"Water," My Dad replied in a deep, yet calm voice.

"Two sprites, one for me and another for my friend here," I replied as I gestured to Emerald.

"Excellent," the waiter said and he went off to get our drinks. After a couple minutes of silence, Dad finally broke it.

"So, care to explain what happened to you?" he asked in a calm, but clearly concerned tone. I nodded and began explaining. As our drinks came, he took a couple sips while listening to my story. His stone-like scowl started becoming softer, less intense, and as I finished, his tense look become more relaxed, like a large weight had just lifted off of him.

"Look Dad. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but I thought you would take me back by force. I didn't want to do that to my Mom or anyone."

"That and he can't communicate normally without the use of thought," Emerald chimed in. Dad looked at me with an expression that I saw very rarely on him, a smile. It was the kind of smile that told you that nothing was wrong and that all was fine. Then, he did something I completely did not expect and he hugged me. It wasn't a bear-hug nor was it a sissy-hug. It was an actual hug. Emerald was just as surprised as me apparently as he slithered down from my neck down to my tail to escape the startling exhibition of fatherly love. After he let go, I was shocked at how calm he looked. People were watching in curiosity and I decided that it was a sign that my Dad respected me and loved me, no matter what, and would respect my decision to live with my Mom.

"Thanks Dad." He nodded with that same smile.

"Am I taking you home?" I gave as non-threatening of a grin that I could and nodded.

"Sure."

During the drive back to my Mom's, we talked about various things that had happened at our homes. Apparently, my Dad was already remodeling the house and replacing the flooring downstairs. He had given my room to Jasmine, but had decided that it was best to keep the stuff that was there. However, tonight, he had brought a bag of items that he thought I could do well with. This included various video games that I had played throughout my years living at his house, the old Gamecube system with all its games in-tact, a couple pictures that I owned as well as the milk mug that I had gotten for Christmas one year. He had said that most of it was mine and that I should keep it. This made me very happy, that my Dad was giving me back items that I had owned at his house, but kept after I had left. It was a heart-warming moment; either that or that was the acidic blood pumping through my body. He had gotten himself a PS3 and many other things. After parking in front of my house, I picked up the bag and gave my Dad a hug good bye before I watched him drive off. After which, I went inside, where my Mom was waiting for me, confused by the bag I was holding.

"What's that?" I looked and smiled before I set down the bag and opened it. Mom went over and put a hand to her mouth in surprise at all the stuff that Dad had decided to give me. "Is this all…"

"Yes Mom, it is. Dad's not mad nor is going to take me back!" I hugged her in happiness, glad that my nightmare of thinking my Dad would bring me back was over. However, Cody watched from the stairs, Cody was watching quietly, scowling at me and Emerald. I may have been able to convince my Dad that I was me, strangely enough, but Cody stuck true to his beliefs, and I doubt he was just going to stand by and let me live happily.


	6. The Incident

**Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation**

 **Chapter 6: The Incident**

* * *

It was quiet…too quiet, even for a Summer day. There weren't any birds chirping, cars going by, or anything that you might hear in a town or city. It was a Monday morning and usually, there was hustling or bustling that could be heard. Then again, I fell asleep with Emerald nearby, who snores like an absolute freight train. However, I instead saw that Emerald wasn't even next to me, and rather, had already gone off to get himself some breakfast. I got up and off of the couch and looked outside to see no one even heading down the street. I immediately looked to my pockets and pulled out my i-Pod, quickly checking the time to see that it was near 8:00 in the morning.

"What the…" I began walking to the window, noticing that no light was shining through any of the windows, making it seem like it was pitch black. I pulled the curtains open and only saw a black mass, and I immediately felt it. The same feeling I felt whenever I went into my room. After seeing this, I immediately backed away from the window, panicking about the situation.

"Hey dude. I'm going to go and…dude, what's going…" Emerald immediately silenced himself after seeing the window, realizing that this was going to need help. After hearing him, I turned to him, teeth bared in fear.

"We need to talk to Tristan. Now!"

"Hey Tristan…can we chat about something?" I typed in frantically, Emerald right next to my hand to type as well. The reply was almost immediate and he was willing to chat, getting a Skype call from my Praetorian friend. We had taken to using Skype as our form of communication rather than deviantART now, but still used it to discuss ideas for stories and to review each other's own stories, such as my upcoming Overlord story, a Snake's Tale, or Tristan's own Xenogirl stories. I immediately answered to see the large crest of the Praetorian, ready to chat about the situation.

"Sure can. :)" I heard him say in my mind, whilst typing out the same message, in case I didn't get it. We had recently discovered that two xenomorphs could chat as easily as two people on Skype. As long as we could see each other, then we could chat with each other. Albeit, I was confused on the process itself, I didn't argue with it. However, we decided to write what we said on Skype just in case our communications didn't get through.

"Well, I'm in a bit of a pickle. A couple months ago, I started getting an odd feeling whenever I went into my bedroom, which I had covered in hive-webbing. Now, I solved it by completely shutting off anyone from my room and started sleeping downstairs. Now, I just opened the curtains on my windows to see that the hive-webbing spread outside of the house. I'm beginning to wonder if my own xenomorphic instincts are finally trying to get into my head." I typed and said to Tristan, who immediately gained what could pass as a surprised expression on his face. Using his tail to scratch his chin, he began thinking on what I could do. It was at this point that Emerald decided to interject on the situation, immediately getting into the camera's view.

"In case you don't already realize, he's saying that he needs help with instinct troubles, and you, being better versed in the situation of instinct control, might be able to help." Tristan immediately hissed at the dragon, causing him to slink out of view, whilst Tristan looked at me with what could pass as a trollface for xenomorphs.

"Oh bother…:XD: Uhm…I recommend that you try to accept your room as it currently is, while still wanting it back the way it was." This confused me more than helped me with the problem at hand, earning the xenomorph equivalent of a confused expression from me and an expression of confusion from Emerald as well.

"Uhm…not to diss on your knowledge, but are you sure?" I asked. Before Tristan could respond however, Emerald decided to interject.

"Seriously, the stuff's almost all over the top of the house and is seeping down to ground floor!" Tristan merely face palmed in response.

"That's really all I got for you. As I've never really had that problem with my resin. ^^; I do wish you two luck though." Emerald looked to me and shrugged his wings, whilst I did the same with my shoulders before looking back to the call.

"Well thanks. Hopefully your advice helps." Tristan grinned in return.

"Anytime. ;)" I smiled at this and then listened for any sign of my parents waking up.

"Either way, we have to deal with this problem before our parents wake up. So, we'll talk to you later. :D" Before Tristan could say see you, however, Emerald interjected, yet a third time!

"BUH BYE! Tell the family we said hi!" he yelled at the Praetorian, who gave a chuckle and waved his own good bye.

"Will do! Bye!" I immediately shut off the call and started thinking on what he meant by accepting my room for what it is and wanting it back the way it was. I spent a good thirty minutes thinking on it before I finally got it. I immediately bolted up the steps to my room, Emerald following quickly behind before I opened the door to my room to see the resin covering everything, from my Playstation 2, to my Xbox 360, to even the windows and door!

"Dude…you need to…slow down…" Emerald panted, then he took one look at the room and his eyes went wider than dinner plates. "Dude…you really let this place go."

"Yeah…I sure did…either way, I finally figured out what Tristan meant." I immediately went over to the wall where I had placed the first bit of resin in my bedroom and I placed my hand on it. Then I felt it; a surge of energy flowed through the resin and into my hand, giving me a feeling of familiarity and home. However, I was not willing to fall for it and started thinking on my room being my own little home, my space, my hive. Immediately, I felt it starting to reside back through the window seams and back into my room, where it laid to rest around the window, but allowed me to see outside. I saw my door immediately become uncovered, the resin sensing that I wanted to leave the door open. When I looked around, my room seemed homely, both in a human perspective and a xenomorphic perspective.

"Dang dude. You clean up nicely."

"I know, right?" Looking towards my parent's room, I could "see" my Mom's pheromones, meaning that Cody had already left for work as usual. Hopefully he didn't see the resin when he left for work.

"Hey Arthur, you need some breakfast?"

"Yes please."

"Let me guess, our regular?"

"Homemade waffles and bacon, glasses of ice-cold milk, and a banana, yes," I replied to Emerald's question, smiling as I went down with the dragon I considered another brother.

The day went by without much trouble, excluding my brothers, who had become more of a nuisance in recent months. It was a fight to get them into bed, a fight to get them into the car when we had to go somewhere, and even a fight for who was the older brother! To be honest, it was kind of cute to watch them go at it, but Emerald and I were quite annoyed when they came to talk to us. I spent most of the day playing my "Command & Conquer" games, mostly "Generals: Rise of the Reds" and "Generals: ShockWave", two mods for "Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour". It was a simple day, but my Mom decided to have my two brothers go to Grandma Jane's, one of my grandparents, for the night whilst she went out to work on her job of band promotion, leaving me with my stepfather, who was unfortunately drunk. I was busy chatting with Gunnar Bloodax, another friend from deviantART, on Skype about a roleplay we were doing.

"Hey, we have an idea for Vitiate," Emerald told Gunnar, who visibly cocked an eyebrow at us. Vitiate was an OC that Emerald and I made for my Oververse. He was a "false emperor" in my stories, a

"Really?" I nodded in return and Emerald began translating my thoughts.

"Yes. He, himself, doesn't go into public, but someone who he possesses, called the "Emperor's Voice", makes appearances for him. He's old; he needs to show himself, but he's too old and looks like an absolute mess. So, he possesses a body and gives it his abilities, making him virtually untouchable." Gunnar visibly widened his eyes before clearing his throat.

"Virtually, but not totally…much like Jack of Blades." I nodded in return.

"Quite. The host to his soul has all of his abilities and doesn't have to use as much mana to keep Vitiate's frail frame from collapsing in on itself. However, the host's abilities are significantly weaker than Vitiate's own, and due to the immense power on their own, the bodies degrade quickly, meaning that Vitiate has multiple Sentinels trained for being the Voice of the Emperor." Gunnar nodded and made a "hmm" sound.

"So some people know it's not really him?" I nodded before Emerald spoke for me again.

"Only the highest in the Empire; Titus, Zime, Gnarl, Nag, Vessperion. Basically, the highest ranks in the Empire only know that Vitiate is not the true Emperor and that his "Voices" aren't really him. However, they put on a charade to make it seem like it's quite real. Only a few heroes actually know that Vessperion is the true Emperor, mastermind, and puppet master. Gandalf and the other Maiar being prime examples." Knowing this, Gunnar nodded and said "That's fair enough." Nodding, I immediately typed in "Got to go and get dinner. Cody's drunk off his ass and fell asleep at the TV. Catch you later." He nodded before I shut off the computer.

"I'm ready for some food!" Emerald exclaimed excitedly. I nodded in agreement, Emerald wrapping up around my tail and slithering up to my neck. I began heading downstairs to eat some food, looking over to see that my stepfather was asleep, feet twitching. I immediately went to get some food and sat down in my chair. As soon as I started changing the channel, I noticed a slight groan from the chair at the back of the room, causing me to look over to see Cody stirring in his drunken sleep.

"Don't wake him buddy…" Emerald silently told me through his mind. I nodded in response before I switched the channel.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I heard a booming voice say. I turned to see Cody, fully awake and now, completely pissed. I merely hissed at him before turning back to the TV.

"Dude, you might as well give him back the remote!"

"And do what? Let him push me around because I'm a "freak"?! Fat chance!"

"Boy, you better give me that clicker or I'll take it from you!" That was the last straw; I had just about enough of him talking trash about me and bullying me because of what I'd become. He couldn't see past the drunken shades to realize that I was still me, and I always would be, so, I got up and pulled Emerald off of me, setting him down on the coffee table in front of me.

"If you want this "clicker", then get off your lazy ass and come and get it!" I yelled at him, hissing at him in warning. He merely looked at me with an expression of drunken rage.

"Dude! What're you doing?!" Emerald practically screamed to me through our mental link.

"I'm standing up for myself! I did it with my real dad, and I'm doing it with Cody!" I replied, turning back to my drunken construction-worker of a step-father, watching as he set down his beer bottle, filled with tobacco spit, on his coffee table. As a result, my tail twitched in anticipation.

"You had better give me that clicker or I'll…"

"Or you'll what; hit me?! I stood up to my dad up in the mountains and I'm not afraid to stand up to you Cody! You've done nothing but be a complete ass to me since this happened to me! What happened?! What happened to "never judge a book by its cover"?! Just because I look it doesn't mean I act it!" I retorted, angrily, causing Cody to stand up and walk over to me with the limp that he naturally had, due to gout and a recent staph infection.

"Mouth off to me one more time!" I didn't slink back at all. I just stared him down, teeth bared and tail twitching. Poor Emerald was just watching in confusion, rooting for me, whilst at the same time, hoping that I didn't do something stupid.

"You want to prove your point?! You want to shove me to the ground too?! Like dad did to me?! HUH?!" I shoved him away from me and pointed at him as I spoke. "I've done nothing to you but get good grades, help your mom with yard work, and help you every once in a while! You've been an absolute ass and now you're going to try and stand up for what's yours?! Well, here's your remote you jackass!" I then through the remote at his infected leg, causing him to yell out in pain before I let Emerald slither up my finger and back up my neck. "If you excuse us, we'll be in our room, staying away from your drunken ass!" I immediately began walking away from the scene, growling under my breath, only to be shoved down from behind by Cody.

"YOU DON'T TALK TO ME LIKE THAT! I MAY BE A DRUNK, BUT YOU ARE NOT IN YOUR RIGHT TO TALK TO AN ADULT LIKE THAT!" His yelling merely made my own anger flare up, like kindling to a campfire.

"I HAD JUST AS MUCH OF A RIGHT! I'VE DONE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO YOU, AND YET, YOU CONTINUE TO MAKE IT SEEM LIKE I DON'T EXIST, EVEN WHEN I DO NICE THINGS FOR YOU!"

"YOU'RE 16!"

"AND YOU'RE IN YOUR 30'S, NOW ACT YOUR AGE AND GET OFF THE BOOZE OR I MAY JUST CALL THE COPS FOR REPEATED IGNORANCE OF YOUR CHILD!"

"YOU'RE NOT MY SON! YOU'RE A MUTANT! You used to be my son, but now you're a fucking alien!" After that statement, something in me snapped, and I pounced on top of Cody and roared at him. I didn't hiss or growl. I screeched at him and at the top of my lungs no less. If you had seen a face as pale as fresh powder after a winter storm, then Cody's face would've topped it easily. I immediately raised my tail and sent it careening towards his face, only to stop mere millimeters from impact, poking his nose and drawing a pinprick of blood.

"I'm not afraid to act Cody. And I will not be afraid of you. You will learn to respect your step-children, or I can call the cops and have them arrest you for assault! You're a sad, spoiled drunkard whose mother bails him out of everything! You and your mother control my mom through debts owed to your family because we don't have the money, and you are too complacent to see it! Now, I want you to either shape up or ship out. Quit the beer, quit the tobacco, and treat Mom like a wife and not throw her under the fucking bus! Oh, and in case I didn't make it clear enough, I will not be treated like shit! I am not afraid of your voice, and I am not afraid of your strength or size! I will be respected, or you won't be respected. What goes around comes around and treat others the way you want to be treated! Now, I'm headed up to my room, and when I come back downstairs, I want an apology!" I said to him darkly. I was more than pissed at him. This was pent-up anger from over 2 years of living with his alcoholism and addiction to tobacco chew, 2 years of living with the yelling at my brothers and at my mom, 2 years of living in a dysfunctional home, all because of him and his mother. The color soon returned to his face and he snorted at me.

"You're not an adult! You can't make demands!" he retorted. At this, I inched the bladed-tip of my tail onto his nose, drawing a bit more blood from the point I already tipped.

"Oh, you bet your sweet ass I can, and I just did! I want you to apologize for all of the shit you've done to this family when you're sober tomorrow or…" I immediately didn't have control over what I said next. It just came out in such a threatening tone, I could've been mistaken as a psychopath; "or I'll cocoon you in resin!" At this, his face immediately paled and he nodded quickly before I let him go and started heading upstairs.

"Dude…that was harsh…really harsh," Emerald said after a while of typing away on my computer.

"He deserved to know what I've been keeping pent up for so damn long Emerald. You don't even know." At this, Emerald merely smirked.

"Mental link, a personality just like yours, except crazier and less intelligent, and access to your memories? I think I know exactly what you went through, and to tell you the truth Arthur, you did need to tell him, but not in such a threatening way." Hearing this, I smiled slightly.

"Well, he wasn't going to learn any other way, was he? We live in a dysfunctional family. I went away from my dad's because of a dysfunctional life-style. I don't deal with stress that well. You and I, of all people, should know that," I replied to Emerald, who smiled and coiled around my neck in a hug.

"You know that Mom's going to be pissed at us, right?"

"Not until I explain the situation to her Emerald. Once that's done, hopefully Cody will apologize for what he's done and I can apologize for what I've done. If he doesn't though, I won't apologize for what I did. He needs to realize that I'm still his son, even if not physically, biologically, or mentally." Emerald scratched his head in confusion. "You know, why don't we just go to sleep and see what Mom and Cody have to say tomorrow? It'll be easier to explain when Cody's not drunk. I nodded in agreement and crawled up on my bed with my dog nearby, expectantly waiting my arrival. Emerald then flew off my neck and onto his own little bed, whilst I coiled up with the dog in a very canine-like fashion.


	7. The Family Portrait

**Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation**  
 **Chapter 7: The Family Portrait**

* * *

The morning afterwards felt like a cinderblock had been dropped on top of me. I woke up with a powerful headache and an upset stomach; it was odd, but not impossible to solve. I soon chocked it up to be the afterglow of Cody's and my "yelling competition" last night. Cody had recently become the bane of my existence because of his biased opinion towards me and my appearance. I had proved to him that I could be dangerous, and he'd most likely never let me live it down.

"Ugh…turn of the alarm…it's too early." I turned to see Emerald, waking up before I shook my head.

"Dude, there's no alarm."

"Then why is my head ringing?!" he asked. I scratched my head before remembering that our minds were interconnected. It was most likely that my headache had resounded off of his mind. However, I merely shrugged and outstretched my arm and allowed him to slither up my arm and onto my neck.

"Come on, let's get some breakfast. I'm really going to hate today," I commented before leaving the sanctity of my room and heading down to where my mother was undoubtedly waiting for me. As soon as I entered the kitchen though, I saw that Mom was gone, but a note was on the counter and I picked it up and read it.

"I'm very disappointed in you Arthur. Make yourself some breakfast, and we'll talk when I get back from work, Mom." I looked up after reading the message, thinking on how I was clearly in trouble. At that moment though, my stomach growled and I turned to Emerald, all previous concerns blocked out by hunger.

"Well, what is it you want for breakfast today?"

"Besides bacon, I'm down for anything." I nodded at his request and immediately took out our waffle-iron to begin making waffles for us. After setting up and making the batter, I took a seat and started thinking on what I should do with the time I had left before Mom returned home. After setting up my computer, I began to start playing Command and Conquer: Generals - Rise of the Reds.

The day was brisk, cold, wet. An uncommon sight in the summer months, even in Colorado. As a result, I spent most of the day playing video games on my computer, but as day grew to night, we began to grow bored and went to check deviantART. Thankfully, Tristan was online and, and naturally, we went to Skype to chat with one-another. But today, I felt like we had to keep up appearances on deviantART, so chatting there wouldn't be too maddening...for now. So, I opened up a chat with Tristan, only to have my computer shut on me by Mom, who had arrived unexpectedly early. She was clearly angry, and I would even go as to say furious!

"We need to talk," she said in a stern voice. I immediately snorted in angst at her after she said this.

"What's there to talk about? Cody was fast asleep, I changed the channel on the TV, and he wakes up angry with me for no particular reason other than drunkenness.

"And you attacked him!"

"He started it, I finished it and told him that he's being negligent!"

"Well you're being belligerent! Arthur, you can't do that to any adult, even to Cody!"

"Cody's been nothing but negligent and prejudiced against me since the start. He's acting more childish than my brothers! Even dad is more accepting of my new appearance! He's not just prejudiced, but he's an asshole!" I retorted. This statement seemed to make my mom's eyes widen. Two long minutes of silence resulted until she finally spoke again.

"Okay…Cody told me that you attacked him without reason." I hissed in a sigh and shook my head before looking to her eyes.

"Tell me. Who do you trust more: Your first-born teenage son, or a drunkard who's lied to you before?" Silence was my answer, but I have a feeling that she knew that she could trust me more easily. However, before she had a chance to respond, Emerald spoke for the first time nearly all day.

"Look, Cody may be your husband, but he's still a liar. Trust us, we wouldn't attack without a reason." Before any of us could interject any longer, however, Cody walked in the door, cursing beneath his breath when he saw me. However, Mom was the first to make a move and walked to Cody.

"Cody, you snapped at Arthur for changing channels on the TV…when you were asleep?!"

"No, baby, no! He attacked me without reason. He's too dangerous, we got to get the kids out of…" he was immediately interrupted by a slap to the face. Both Emerald and I smirked at this, knowing that Cody was getting what was coming to him.

"You don't have the right to hurt my baby anymore! Arthur hasn't done anything to you!"

"Stop yelling!" Cody interjected. The irony was that he yelled himself. "That's not Arthur anymore, and you should know it!"

"What, just because of his appearance? Underneath that skin is the same Arthur that I raised!" Immediately, Cody pushed Mom out of the way and walked towards me.

"Stay away from my family!"

"They aren't just your family. That's my mother, and I have every right to be with them. You're just negligent and lazy."

"Really? Prove it!" he yelled. I smirked and began counting off the reasons with Emerald.

"When you get home, you go straight to the chair and make a divot in the cushion."

"When you do get up, it's usually to get a bear or to get to the table to eat."

"You let your mother control your children more than you talk with Mom about it."

"And moreover, you're being a prejudiced bastard because you cope with my change and Emerald's creation." After saying these and giving him his reasons of negligence and laziness, he stood there, a hulking slob of a construction worker. He stood there with beady, angry eyes before he punched me to the ground. I didn't expect it, and the punch left my jaw feeling sore.

"Get out of my family's house!" After saying this, I got up and wiped my jaw before punching him in the gut. Immediately, a gasp of pain escaped him and he collapsed onto his knees.

"Yeah, I'm calling the police. Emerald, you speak." Emerald nodded before I took out my phone from my pocket, which I had gotten as a Christmas gift, and dialed the number.

"Hello, emergency hotline, how may we be of service?" the operator asked.

"Yeah, this is Arthur Jackson calling from 1742 Springmeadows Court, I need you to come and arrest James Cody Vanhorn."

"Wait…you're the alien kid, right?"

"Yes, I am."

"Alright, I'm sending a car, it should be there in about 15 minutes," the operator replied. I hung up to look Cody in the eyes.

"Cody, I like to see the good in people, and I know that you're a good man. You're going to prison, but I'd like to see some humanity before the cops arrive." He looked up to me with blood trickling from his nose. I guess the force of the punch strained his muscles so bad that he got a nose bleed. Whatever the case, he looked to me with teary eyes and immediately began apologizing. Something I didn't expect.

"I'm sorry Arthur! I'm sorry I ignored you, I'm sorry I was negligent, I'm sorry that I was prejudiced and insensitive! I'm sorry for everything!" he cried as he looked to me. I looked to Emerald.

"I wasn't expecting that," I said.

"Guess he was just afraid," Emerald replied telepathically to me. "What do we do? Tell the police that it's all a big joke?" I immediately shook my head.

"No. He deserves jail time, but I think that when he gets out, he'll be a better man." Cody just sat there, crying as he was being watched by my brothers, Mom, Emerald, and I. I then turned back to Cody and put my hand over his mouth.

"Stop your sniveling. You're going to jail, can't change that, but I accept your apology. I hope you can prove that you're sorry when you get out." Cody immediately nodded before curling up in the fetal position and crying silently.

When the police arrived, all had been quiet. The kids weren't being rambunctious, Mom was outside smoking a cigarette, and I was on my computer, all while Cody silently sobbed as he was dragged away into the cruiser. As the lights began to dim and the sounds of police sirens died away, I began to think on if what I did was the right thing. He had attacked me, but was I right to punch back, or did that make me as much of a disgrace than him? Whatever the case, he was in going to be in jail for about a year or so, and we'd be a little more financially challenged.

"You alright dude?" Emerald asked quietly, and I turned to him.

"Just thinking if what I did was right," I replied. "It's funny, really. How I say that he's the degenerate and I'm the one who punches back." Emerald immediately interjected to stop me from beating myself up.

"Dude, you did more than the right thing. You've improved your relationship, somewhat with him. He's not going to be bothering you anymore." I smiled before getting up and heading upstairs to sleep, my dog waiting for me on the bed to cuddle like the cute little pooch that she was.

Our junior year of high school was the quietest so far. I felt great, as did Emerald, and I was finally able to find a new look. I now had blue and grey-striped shirts that I'd wear, along with a new hat. The style suited me well, and people began to fear me less as the year went on. People may have supported me, but there were always the paranoid and those who were afraid of me, but they gradually began to die down and treat me as normal. Eventually, I was only noticed as another regular person in the world. No news crews, no special gifts, nothing special. I finally was living my life on a semblance of normality, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. Between you, me, and Emerald, I personally hated the popularity. Made me more popular in school, but I was constantly watched to make sure that I didn't go ballistic. However, the year was blissful, even on Christmas. Cody was allowed to be seen on Christmas, but he was still in jail for assault. But even then, that was a blissful affair. I got a new laptop and a new phone, and was able to visit my dad and my sisters. My grandma knew of what happened, but treated me normally. My sisters were apprehensive to see me at first, but they eventually grew accustomed to my appearance. But the day that I was most anxious for was the day when Cody would return. On that day, we were all dressed and waiting outside our home for the cruiser to bring him home. We waited and waited and waited for hours on end. Emerald had eventually begun to start to entertain himself with my memories and thoughts. I, on the other hand, was a nervous wreck. While I didn't show it outside, I was contemplating what would happen on the inside and thinking of responses to nearly every question or statement that Cody would give to me. My thoughts were soon cut short, however, due to the arrival of the police cruiser that we had been waiting for. As soon as it parked, the vehicle opened up to reveal Cody. He had clearly been working out, as he no longer had his beer belly, and was smiling. I don't think I'd seen him smile in a long time seeing me. However, he was smiling, and as he walked up to me, I don't think I'd been more ready to defend myself. However, when he patted me on the shoulder, it was the one reaction I had not expected. Had Cody changed?

"Hey, Arthur?" he asked. I merely turned my head to the side as a sign of acknowledgement. "Look, I'm really sorry about the past four years…I was just afraid. I thought that if you lost it, hurting the family." His words rang true, and he clearly had changed physically, but mentally, he may have been the same old Cody. Whatever the case, the next thing he did was totally unexpected. He held out his hand. I looked at it in disbelief before taking his hand and shaking it.

"Are we on good terms?" he sincerely asked me. I looked to him and nodded before saying, "Yes, we are Cody. Welcome home." It was a touching moment, where we all posed to take a family picture. A picture that would become engraved in my mind for the rest of my life. It was in front of our house. Cody and Mom were behind the kids, with Ian to the right side of the image and Tom to the left, and Emerald and I were in the middle, with Cody's and Mom's hands on my shoulders. In the image, I looked happy, and Emerald was there looking at me instead of the camera. It was a happy family photo, not a time of hate and strife, and I would forever treasure that image.


	8. Epilogue

**Warrior: Xenomorph Transformation**

 **Epilogue: A New Life**

* * *

My name is Arthur Jackson, and this has been the story of how I became "Nag and Emerald." I am now twenty-one years old and living in a quiet neighborhood in Old Town Fort Collins. As for my job, I work at Gryphon's Comics and Games, given my appearance. I did my job responsibly and helped with advertisement due to my condition. As you all know, I am a xenomorph, and in an old-school comic store, where there are sci-fi items a plenty, I draw in customers. My manager is a nice and reasonable man and I usually have enough money for some comforts of my own. Emerald is still around, and he lives upon my neck as he did years ago. Every week, I make regular visits to see Mom, Cody, and the kids. College was around the corner, and they expected me to start getting my butt in gear for it. Since the entire incident with Cody four years earlier, life had gone on better for me and my family. Mom and Cody had less arguments, Cody started doing more around the house, the kids started being more respectful of what they were told to do, and I was college-bound. Life was solid and my goals were high. Little did I know that there was a new life that awaited me in the near future.

My alarm rang quite loudly this morning, but I had reason for setting the volume as high as I did. I was going camping with Mom, Cody, and the kids. As soon as I perked up about a minute later, I immediately grabbed my clothes from the closet, a blue-and-grey-striped shirt, some jeans, and my hat. As I ran to the shower, Emerald followed close behind so that he could clean himself of yesterday's muck.

"Arthur, calm down. What's the rush?" he asked curiously as I jumped into the shower.

"Mom and Cody are going camping. They're going to be here soon. Don't you remember me talking to you about that last night?" I replied. With considerable practice and effort, I had finally gained control of my vocal cords and better control over my nearly non-existent lips, now able to actually form words. However, it was easier to communicate with Emerald the good old fashioned way: by thought waves. Emerald's face scrunched in an effort to remember the conversation we had about camping today. Soon after I started the shower, his eyes widened in remembrance, and he jumped into the shower. About ten minutes of cleaning later, we got out and went down to make ourselves a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, and milk. Soon after the rush to make our food, I sprinted back upstairs to grab my laptop from beside my bed and, with the charger in tow, rushed back downstairs to set up the plates for the food.

"Dude! Slow down! You're going to exhaust yourself before we even get out the door!" I merely looked to Emerald and smirked.

"You know what they say? Early bird gets the worm." I sat down and began looking at what was new on my internet life. Nothing seemed new or out of the ordinary. My life on deviantART was still as fulfilling as ever, and I still chatted with Tristan every now and again, but not nearly as often as I used to. I was on Skype more often, but with the amount of groups I had joined, I had to mark all messages as read. Whatever the case, I waited for our parents to show up as we ate. After eating, I started heading to the back room to feed a very special inhabitant of the house: a snake, who I had come to name Iswit. When I had found it, it was clearly domesticated, but was left out and apparently slithered away. When I found it only several years ago, it was dehydrated and malnourished. It was a highly venomous spectacled cobra, but unlike most I had seen from various videos circulating the world-wide-we, it was more calm and willing to be handled than other snakes. Whether this was because of its domestication or its own nature was beyond me, but whatever the case, I took one of my old terrariums that I owned and placed the snake in it. After posting "Does this snake belong to you?" papers across my neighborhood, no one had come to pick him up, so I decided to keep the snake and name it.

"Hello Iswit. You hungry today?" I asked as I walked into the room. The cobra immediately perked up and hooded as I grabbed the specialized snake-hook off the wall nearby and opened a container containing dead, refrigerated mice.

"Yeah, you're most certainly hungry," I delightedly agreed. The cobra immediately started hissing, a fit that it would sometimes have if it woke up in a grumpy mood. I reached in pulled out the cobra with the hook and placed him in his feeding bin before grabbing my pair of tongs to give him the rat. Even if I was immune to his venom, I would prefer if he didn't hurt himself on either my own skin or my acidic blood. Picking up the tongs, I reached into the nearby container and pulled out one of the dead rodents with the tongs.

"Alright, let's get this over with Iswit. I have stuff to do today," I told the cobra. However, as soon as I got the rat even remotely near the bin, the cobra sprang out like a jack-in-the-box and took the rat along with the tongs.

"Jesus. You act like I've starved you!" I yelped. As soon as I regained my composure, I grabbed my spare tongs and grabbed another rat from the refrigerated container, watching to make sure he got his food down his gullet. As soon as he finished, Iswit immediately struck at the next morsel and yanked it out of the pair of tongs. As he ate, I grabbed the tongs from under his coils and put it in the disinfectant bucket. After doing so, I stared at Iswit as he ate. When I was younger, I always dreamed of what it was like to be a snake. I always dreamed of gliding across the ground and having a venomous touch to my teeth. Although, I also had dreams of flying ham and cheese rain, so that could've been easily diagnosed as just dreams. Without even realizing it, Iswit had left his cage and decided to stroll around on the floor.

"Now what do you think you are doing?" I questioned him, and immediately after using the hook to place him in his cage, he made a striking motion. He was either playing or he was in a grumpy mood. Whatever the case, I shut the cage and left him to digest in peace.

"So, how's the snake doing?" Emerald asked as he watched TV from his perch.

"Iswit's in a sour mood today." Emerald merely nodded in reply, and as I sat down in my chair, I heard a knock at the door.

"Emerald, go get the door real quick," I requested. Emerald complied, but grumbled the entire way. As soon as he opened the door, there was no one there, but there was a box with a note that said "for Arthur" on it. The box was wooden and seemed hastily nailed down.

"Arthur! There's a package for you!" As soon as Emerald finished the word package, I had already come to the door to see the box. Immediately, I took the box inside and went back to the back room to get a crowbar to open it up. As soon as I returned, I readied myself for whatever was in the package.

"Whatever's in that box, I didn't order it. Emerald, I need you near the phone for 911, just in case." Emerald nodded in agreement and flew to the phone and readied his tail near the buttons of the phone. I then turned to the box and started taking deep, apprehensive breaths to calm myself before placing the prying end of the crowbar underneath the lid. I then placed my free hand on the box and pushed the crowbar down. Immediately, the sounds of splintering wood resounded and I watched as the lid of the box flew to the other side of the wall, making a resounding smack against said wall. When I looked inside, I saw something that I never expected: a stone, similar to the one that made me who I am, but in the shape of a cobra, hooded and ready to strike. Knowing this was nearly identical to the xeno-stone that made me into a fictional creature, I immediately went into the kitchen and grabbed a napkin before returning to the stone to cover it up.

"What is it Arthur?" Emerald inquired as I picked up the stone and stared at it. Five minutes passed without an answer as I stared into the stone's jeweled eyes. Unlike the xeno-stone, this one was much more detailed, but just like it, it was made from obsidian. Whatever the case, I heard another knock at the door and looked out the window to see my Mom, waiting for me to join her. Emerald immediately jumped back onto my neck and I placed the stone in my laptop bag before going out to greet her.

Camping was supposed to be a time of relaxation, but I was not relaxed. I was tense, twitchy, and constantly on the move, studying the stone and what it could possibly do. My laptop didn't have an internet connection at the moment, so I was stuck without answers and more questions than in a job interview. It was a horrid feeling. Emerald had abandoned me to go and relax, and I was keeping to myself in order to find out more about the stone. What secrets did it contain? What kind of secret did mine contain? What were these stones? Too many questions, too little time to answer. As I looked at the little rock, I didn't notice my mom walking up behind me.

"Hey Arthur…you haven't eaten anything yet and you've been keeping to yourself. Is something wrong Arthur?" I turned to see my mother's white hair and wrinkled face, ravaged by time. She was wearing a short-sleeved white t-shirt and was wearing sandals. She reminded me of my grandmother in many ways at this age.

"No. I'm fine. I just found something before we went camping."

"Oh? What is it?" I immediately started searching for an excuse, as not to worry her.

"Oh, just a rock that I thought would make Iswit a happy snake." Mom wasn't stupid. She knew something was up, but she knew better than to continue questioning me.

"Well, when you're ready, you feel free to come and eat." I smiled and nodded as she left before turning back to the rock.

Time passed by quickly on the camping trip, but each day I found myself trying to find an internet connection I could use. Every day, I would take my laptop and start running down to an internet-connected area, only to be disappointed that half my day went by before I even got there. When I returned, it would be dark out, and I would get called out for running out and away. I may be 21, but that didn't mean that I couldn't be called out by parents anymore. However, there was just one point where I couldn't take it. Cody had drank himself into a drunken presentation for the first time since I used to live at my old home. He was stumbling, fumbling, and holding a can of Budwiser in his hands. I had just about had it with that drinking of his. We couldn't stop it, but he was still setting a bad example by drinking that much.

"Hey…Arthur? Y-y-you know I love you…right?" he asked. I was irritated at that particular statement. He said it every time he did get drunk, and it eventually began to mean nothing when he said it.

"You know…I love you man…y-y-you may be black…and tall…and…and have no eyes…but you're still my son…" I immediately turned and smiled before just getting up, stirring Emerald from a nice nap.

"That's it…I'm done with this camping trip! See ya. I'm packing up and headed back to town!" Immediately, my Mom walked up to me, and although I was bigger, I cowered. I feared the power that my mother had in terms of being the "wo-man" of the house.

"What the Hell Arthur?!" she inquired, "You don't get to talk to adults like that! Ever!" I immediately shook my head and began to answer her.

"He's drunk off his ass and he's going to be grumpy, hung over, and probably sick to his stomach in the morning, and that's just for me to deal with?"

"You're still his son!"

"I'm 21, mother!"

"You act like a belligerent 14-year old!" I couldn't take it, and I got into my car and slammed the door.

"Have fun with YOUR camping trip that YOU dragged me on! I have a life, mother! A life besides the internet! I've got a home, I've got taxes, I've got a job! I could be spending my time on something more worthwhile!"

"Then maybe you should!" My Mother was very stern woman when it came to this kind of thing. It made me very worried when she yelled. I was a nice guy, but I did have work to do. Work that was, indeed, more important than camping. After she left, I started up the car and started heading out, back down towards town.

"Stupid camping trip…stupid timing…it's all going downhill…" I was grumbling to myself about how this camping trip came at the worst possible time. Emerald had decided to go sleep in the trunk instead of listening to my ramblings. I was angry: angry at Cody for drinking, angry at Mom for dragging me along on a camping trip that I had told her that I couldn't go on, and most of all, angry at myself for arguing with her about something that shouldn't even matter.

"I just wanted to get stuff done Mom…why do you got to bring me on this camping trip when I've got bills to pay and stuff to buy, namely my food…I just…I just wish that I could start it over…have a better relationship…HAVE A PROPER FAMILY!" I punched the horn and immediately the airbag came popping out, to where I braked very quickly. After waiting for the airbag to deflate, I went to pull over on the side of the mountain road, but as I did this, I heard the familiar sound of a hissing snake in a bad mood right beside me. I turned very quickly to see a darting black shape attach itself to my arm, and I screeched in pain. I heard the all-too-familiar hissing of my corrosive blood dripping on something, and when I looked at the shape, I saw it was the stone that I had received. I was immensely wary of the situation, and I knew that it had to be taken delicately, so I grabbed one of the pairs of forceps that I kept in the car at all times and grabbed the rock with them before prying it off. It looked like a striking cobra, with fangs and all.

"Wait a minute…" I spoke to myself. I looked closer at the snake to see that its fangs were still intact, despite being in contact with my acidic blood. Not only that, but it was dripping what appeared to be venom on the seat.

"Oh no!" I yelped as I tried to start searching for my phone to get reception. However, I stopped just as I was about to dial the emergency hotline, I remembered that I was in no area of phone reception, so I started my vehicle and started driving back down, already beginning to feel VERY woozy and sick.

"Shit, shit, shit!" I was saying that one word, that one obscenity the entire way down the canyon until I reached reception. I immediately then dialed the emergency hotline.

"Hello, this is the emergency hotline, what's your emergency?" I then remembered that I had to get Emerald to speak for me. Before I even knew it, I was opening the trunk and getting Emerald out.

"Hello? Is this an actual emergency?" Emerald heard the words and looked to me for answers.

"Emerald. I've been bitten by a snake! The rock! It didn't dissolve, and now I'm…I'm…" I then vomited up the food I had eaten at the camp, then fell over, my vision blurred and my consciousness fading. Emerald then took the phone.

"Look, if this is a prank call, you can get arrested for that here in this county!"

"No! This is an emergency! This is Arthur Jackson! I've been bitten by a snake and I need medical assistance now!"

"Alright, we're sending an ambulance from the nearest hospital to your location!" Emerald nodded before turning to me. My vision began to darken as Emerald came over to help me, and the last thing I heard was the sound of Emerald's voice telling me to stay with him.

Heat…an immense, burning sensation that I hadn't felt in a long time. Sweat was another product of the heat that I hadn't felt in a long time. I groaned and started to try and open my eyes; but, there was a problem. They had been caked in what felt like coarse, rough sand. However, after rubbing my eyes and opening them, I found that I was in what appeared to be an immense plain of sand and sun: a desert. "Is this in my mind?" I thought, "Is this real?" I looked around to see nothing but sand and blue sky. I then took a deep breath and practically coughed out my lungs and heart. The air was crisper, purer, as though it hadn't experienced polluting elements.

"W-where am I?" I moaned I slight discomfort. It was then that I realized something was wrong. My voice sounded younger. Like I was in second grade again. That couldn't be right. I was 21, and the last things I remembered were the stone, calling 911, leaving the campsite so abruptly…my mother and me arguing. Whatever the case, I tried speaking again,

"Fish, and chips, and vinegar!" I immediately covered my mouth, but as soon as I did, I uncovered it to see something that I never thought I would ever see again: skin. I had skin…and hands that didn't end in claws…I also didn't feel anything on my back or ass. I had no tail, no dorsal tubes, and my head felt lighter in the back than ever. I then looked down to see that I was wearing small Velcro shoes, a pair of jean-shorts, and a plain, sky-blue shirt. I was…human…something that I didn't really want back, but also remembered as having fun experiences in. As I looked around, I realized the situation I was in: I was a child, alone in a desolate wasteland, without any form of contact or the evolutionary powers granted to me by my former xenomorphic physiology. I began to breathe faster as my heart rate increased; a sign of stress and anxiety. I was in the desert, and I would probably die out here if I didn't find a city soon. At that moment, I began running: running towards what I perceived to be the west.

"If I continue on this route, I may survive yet!" I yelled to myself in my mind; however, it didn't. I spent over two weeks in that desert. As I crawled across the boiling ground in the day and hid as close as I could to warmth at night, I was dying. I had no food, no water…nothing. It wouldn't be only two days after the start of the third week that I would find what would become my salvation.

"This is it…I'm going to die…I'm going to die without apologizing to Mom…without seeing Iswit again…and I'm going to die alone…Emerald! WHERE ARE YOU?!" I screamed at the heavens. I was falling apart from the inside. However, as if someone up above heard me, I looked up to see what appeared to be structures in the distance. Civilization…I had finally found civilization in this desolate wasteland. It was then that I began to run. My eyelids were caked with sand and my mouth was as dry as the desert below my feet, but I ran. I ran until I could no longer run, and when I could no longer run, I walked. That didn't last long, and I eventually began to crawl. This city was in my sight…I could see figures at the edge of the city. Blurriness swirled my vision; dehydration was a bitch. As I crawled the farthest I could, I began to try and call for help from the figures at the entrance to this civilization that I had found. The cries were weak though. They were weak and terribly weakened by the lack of food and water.

"H-h-help!" I managed to finally choke out an actual cry for help, rather than choke on the dryness of my throat. As I collapsed and began to fall into the void of unconsciousness once more, I saw several figures run over to me. To me, it seemed as though their skin was different in color and texture. However, the last thing I felt as I slipped away was the cold, hard feeling of scales on my torso as I was lifted up into the air. Was I dying?

"Immediately, I gasped a breath of air as I sat up. However, as soon as I did, I looked around to see a dark room, but the darkness was different. I could see in it. I then started feeling my body to find cold chitin instead of warm, soft skin. I then felt the back of my head and felt the elongation and ridges that ran across it. I was a xenomorph once again. As soon as I realized this, I started taking in my surroundings: a room with white walls and a window overlooking the town of Fort Collins, several IV bleeders and tubes were in the room, and I was wearing a sea foam green hospital gown. I was at Poudre Valley Hospital: I had been saved. I then turned to see a remote that had a multitude of buttons on it, and I began jamming the one for a nurse or doctor. I needed to know what was going on, and what day it was. As soon as I pressed the service button my 24th time, a man in a white uniform entered the room.

"Oh…you're awake…we didn't think you'd be…" I interrupted him very quickly.

"What day is it? What year? When did I get here?!" I yelled at him telepathically. I could see the startled fear in his eyes before he cleared his throat and began to answer my questions as calmly as he could.

"It's the third of August, 2019. You got here only a few hours ago. Your little friend that's sleeping on the lamp over there told us you were bitten by a snake, but according to your vitals, your immune system was doing just fine and fought it off. We only administered anesthesia to reduce any pain. We have a tow team coming to drop off your car in the morning." I let him go before turning to the desk to see the cobra-like rock before walking over to it and picking it up to look at it. It was undamaged and pristine. Then I remembered,  
"It…bit me…" I said to myself, "Doctor, can you leave me be for a minute?" The doctor nodded and left the room as I stared at the rock.

"Was that a dream…was it real? What did I see?" Little did I know that something was missing…almost like a piece of me had been stripped from my very being.


End file.
